For The Homeworld
by BladeMasterWolf
Summary: It has been sixty years since the Vaygr War, the battered Hiigaran nation has rebuilt it's strength and now truly influences the post-Bentusi galaxy. Their mighty navy now looks out for minor border skirmishes and guarding merchant convoys. But now, hatreds flare and memories fade as old wounds reopen, threatening to split the galaxy asunder once again.
1. Chapter 1

FOR THE HOMEWORLD

- _Chapter One -_

 _"The Bentusi, I think, I think they knew where it was all headed when they first encountered our mothership." - Karan Har-il S'Jet - 'On Exile, Home and Kiith Vol I Chapter III'_

The blue hologram of the tactical display hummed gently in the quiet stillness of the bridge of the Battlecruiser, Ka-Laggann of the Hiigaran Navy. The ship's master and commander, Captain Leeta Yii-Lal Naabal observed the pirate vessel desperately pulling every ounce of acceleration away from the far more powerful Battlecruiser and her consorts on it, represented as silent crimson light points compared her the Ka-Laggann's own green dot in the tactical display centre.

The Captain glanced at the tactical readouts that adorned the holographic display, they, the Ka-Laggann, would overhaul the pirate cruiser in less than fifteen minutes and they were already within weapons range.

"Comm." Leeta said without turning from the display. "Signal Tango-4 - He is to heave to and prepare to be bordered, failure to comply will result in his destruction." she finished as she turned to her command chair and made a few steps towards it. "Tactical, lock him up, and let them know it."

A pair of affirmatives broke the silence of the bridge crew as the Captain took her seat. From where she sat, on a raised dais in the centre of the bridge, she was surrounded by her department's staffs, capable of overseeing them with but a turn of her head.

Leeta laid a gloved hand on the terminal laid into her arm rest and pressed the key to signal her consorts' captains. A moment later a series of small holo-displays flickered to life about her like a sort of orange-hued halo, and she was looking at the faces of the captains of the heavy and light cruisers of her combined squadron.

Leeta glanced to the communication station, catching Lieutenant Kreel Naabal's eye. The Communication Officer shook his head, no response from the pirate cruiser. So, destruction it is. Leeta thought to herself as she turned back to the five other faces.

"It seems that the little Vaygr doesn't want to talk, so we're back in business." she said and she was answered without comment but a few cold smiles - Leeta held her own cheeks for the moment as she tapped a fast command into the navigational plot interface beside her. "Laggann will move to intercept, we're already building delta-v on him so we'll finish up - Reeger" she glanced to her most senior of subordinates. "You and the others will take care of the cripples and watch those merchant ships - I want to talk to this convoy's skipper before they vanish."

Reeger nodded silently, his worn, well-tanned face and dark eyes betraying nothing of his own thoughts.

"Otherwise, this is another day at the office." Leeta continued "Seize the Vaygr ships, detain the crews if possible, but I don't think anyone will miss them if they choose to resist." she let a quick smirk flash for only an instant before she forced neutrality on her face once again. "Ka-Laggann - out."

She hit another key and the bridge once again fell into dimmed lights and silence.

Leeta leaned back into the command chair, looking up into the great blue tactical display once again.

...

The Ka-Laggann slid like a knife through the infinite vacuum of space, a powerful and relatively new Escarii-class Battlecruiser, an updated design to the venerable LiirHra-class that saw service during the Vaygr War, nearly sixty years ago.

She had angled her prow towards the fleeing pirate, and Ion, Laser and Gauss turrets kept a steady lock of the ship. The chase missile launchers kept their birds on standby as tactical fed them more targeting data and the FTL-sensors and lightspeed information filtered in from the enemy Light Cruiser.

Even at a little over 310,000 kilometres, a little over a light second from the pirate, the Ka-Laggann and her electronic warfare suites could defeat the admittedly good pirate vessel's ECM and other trickery so her weapons had near-perfect target locks whereas the pirate would only be able to achieve partial locks in return.

The larger, more powerful battlecruiser was closing that distance with each passing moment, and the Vaygr pirates knew it. The lighter cruiser poured everything they had into their engines as they tried to spin up their hyperdrives, only to find that it was impossible within the effect-field of the Hiigaran's Interdictor generator, causing the unprotected drives to auto-fail every time they tried.

In the total silence two of the six forward laser cannons of the battlecruiser fired. There was no light or sound to indicate such a weapon in the total lack of atmosphere, but after the near-instant it took the beams of coherent light to cross the short distance between the two vessels, the Vaygr crew became suddenly very aware of the existence of those lasers.

The smaller ship suddenly bucked as their shields failed to stop the lasers and the rear of the ship lost hundreds of tonnes of armour in brilliant flashes of detonation. Alloy armour took the brunt of the hit but the capital-class weaponry was more than enough to penetrate the skin of the light cruiser. Atmosphere bled from the holes like blood from a wound. For a moment the control and power links to the main engines flickered as the discharge ran through the interior of the ship but the crew wrestled control back once again.

Desperately the pirate returned fire with it's own cannons. Lasers flashed back toward the pursuer, cloaked as she was underneath her electronic warfare systems and target-baffler drones.

Out of their impromptu barrage, the Vaygr scored one hit on the reinforced prow shields of the Ka-Laggann, resulting in only a momentary fluctuation in the array and nothing more.

Another volley from the prow-weapons answered and only a sharp twist from the pirate's helm saved them from destruction, instead of plunging deep into their hull, the laser scraped across the surface of her port side, ripping away two missile tubes and a gauss cannon along with large nasty chunks of armour before the remaining energy disappeared into the endless night.

The Ka-Laggann followed up with one of its Ion cannons. This time there was visible evidence of the weapon's discharge. A spear of brilliant blue-white flew toward the bleeding enemy and this shot landed home after just over the second the near-lightspeed projectile took to cross the distance.

The round hit it's mark on the starboard flank of the cruiser, burrowing through the shields and sending the arrays powering them into auto-shutdown and reset as they tried to handle the energy load. The remainder of the Ion bolt crashed into the armoured hull, again tearing nasty chunks of armour away and ripping a new vicious wound across the cruiser.

To their credit, the Vaygr continued to return fire. Invisible bolts of light flashed back towards the Ka-Laggann, crashing against the shields a few more times as the Vaygr fire control operators narrowed down the incoming fire from the background haze.

The front, triple layered shield arrays shuddered and flashed as again it stood against the barrage. By ease borne of training and experience, the shield-tech assigned to the bow defence cycled the shields to keep the arrays steady while under the duress of enemy fire.

Another ion lance slammed into the rear of the Light Cruiser, blowing another hideous wound in the already battered vessel. The pirate shuddered and shivered as she launched a brace of missiles as her engines faltered and her acceleration started to slow.

...

"Missile launch - count, twelve." a sensor-tech called out calmly, "Estimated time to impact, thirty-two seconds."

Leeta watched as the tactical display began to track the incoming warheads and the counter-missile firing solutions began to calculate. The bridge of the Battlecruiser shivered as a flurry of small, agile missiles flew to meet the incoming attack. The captain nor the executive officer needed to order the launch, they could rely on the capabilities of the tactical officer to make those calls under these sorts of situations.

"Counter-missile intercept in twelve seconds, set point-defence clusters to automatic." The tactical officer, Lieutenant Commander Liara Somtaaw ordered to her section in a cool tone laced with the accent of the homeworld's upper regions, where Kiith Somtaaw had taken root in the years after the Vaygr war. A gentle soprano and carefully crafted words echoed across the bridge that had broken silence into a low hum of combat chatter.

The tactical display showed the scores of light-points speed towards the dozen blood red points as they hurtled through space toward her command. The tactical repeater, an orange edged hologram beside the captain's command chair, appeared and with it the firing calculations for the anti-missile point defence laser clusters dotted across her ship as they swiveled to face the incoming bogeys. With the speed and efficiency that the well-trained crewmen brought to their actions, soon each missile was facing two clusters of lasers if they should somehow survive the score of counter-missiles.

The light-points collided. The on-board targeting of the counter-missiles guiding them straight into the incoming hostile missiles. Six of the attackers were destroyed instantly, two more were damaged in the explosions and flew off course as their own targeting systems failed and they lost lock. The last few were saved by the actions of one of their number, as it suddenly lit up with ECM and other electronic witchcraft, blinding the counter-missiles away from their true enemy and harmlessly into space before they detonated uselessly.

However, the three remaining attackers now faced the combined fire of the defence clusters. A brief flurry of laser fire followed the counter-missiles and the remaining three were blotted from existence as they entered arcs of the clusters.

Captain Leeta glanced back to her communications section. "Comm, raise the pirate - see if they are willing to obey our orders now before they end up dust."

"Aye aye ma'am"

Leeta turned back to her tactical display as her Tact-Officer returned fire with the same two laser cannons. Her targeting solutions seemed to be aimed at the engineering section, or at least where any Hiigaran shipbuilder would put an engineering section, perhaps not a Vaygr Engineer of old, but a lot of the current designs used by the Vaygr were derivatives of Hiigaran and Taiidani designs so it was possible Liara was on to something.

The lasers sliced through tortured armour, blowing apart compartments and through interior hulls. A series of detonations rippled inside the Light Cruiser, blowing apart the aft section and killing their acceleration completely as their primary engines were vaporised.

Leeta rubbed her chin as she saw the pirate enter an uncontrolled tumble. She glanced to the Tact-Officer and raised an eyebrow. Liara looked over her console and saw the expression on the face of her Captain through the low lighting of the bridge.

"I suppose we didn't need another prize bounty." Leeta remarked to which Liara suddenly looked very guilty. The Captain smirked for a second before waving the Tactical Officer's sudden expression away. "No matter Lieutenant Commander, we have the rest of his consorts." The Captain turned to face the display again. "Tactical - hold fire, Comm - any response?"

"None ma'am" The Lieutenant returned sharply. "All I'm getting is silence."

"Shame." Leeta muttered as she turned her command chair to face her ship's helm section. "Helm, bring us to boarding distance." The helmsman confirmed the order as the Captain turned again, this time back to Liara. "See if you can-"

"Missile launch - count, fifteen, no, eighteen, no, twenty!" the tech called out again, "Impact, fifteen seconds."

Leeta snapped her head to the tactical display again as the blood red stars erupted from the dying ship and ploughed through the blackness towards her own green star icon.

"Launch countermeasures!" Liara called to her section as her head snapped back down to her console.

The ship shivered again as counter-missiles were snap launched and already the point defences were tracking incoming targets. Against the incoming birds, the Ka-Laggann sent only fifteen counter-missiles and the timings would be close.

The tactical officer didn't have time to call out the time to impact before it already happened. The light points exploded against one another in the holo display as more penetration aids flared up from the enemy birds, despite the rushed nature of their launch, ten of the counter missiles found their mark but a combination of pen-aids and not enough CMs meant the other ten flew past.

The point defence clusters rose and fired almost as one, spitting out bolts of coherent light as they switched to rapid fire.

Leeta watched silently as the countdown closed to impact. She gave no outward sign of tension, save balling her fists ever so slightly.

One after another the point defence laser clusters swatted an attacker from space, but even the Hiigaran-built weapons had their limits. Nine of the ten missiles were destroyed in as few seconds. The final bird however made it to it's terminal attack distance and armed it's warhead.

The missile split, the main engine that had crossed those thousands of kilometres was blown apart as the fresh, smaller engines of the six warheads fired up and they sped forwards. The point defence clusters managed to clip two of the warheads and destroy them and a third lost it's target under a haze of ECM from Ka-Laggann itself. The remaining three drove towards the Hiigaran Battlecruiser and her crew heard the tone sound to prepare for impact.

The shields, powerful defensive tools they were stopped the first warhead dead, however it also detonated its payload, a several hundred kiloton nuclear warhead. The resulting, brilliant flash caught the second warhead and it too detonated, creating a second star burst. The resulting radiation, gamma rays and sheer power of the explosions played havoc with the Ka-Laggann's prow shields, one array went into emergency shutdown and the other two took a heavy hit in their own right. The third warhead, due to this managed slip through the sudden tears in the shields and roar the last few kilometres towards the heavily armoured hull of the battlecruiser.

Leeta knew from long experience and training that a single cruiser-launchable warhead would not destroy her ship, infact, the Ka-Laggann had taken far worse hits in her many years and survived. This mere-kiloton range nuke would hurt yes, but the ship would survive, and with virtually all hands if both the Captain and the Ka-Laggann was very, very lucky.

Leeta heard a quiet prayer to Sajuuk muttered behind her but she didn't even flinch from her staring match with the tactical display.

The nuke flashed into life, a searing white star born in glory if only for an instant before it's death. The battlecruiser bucked under the attack and damage alarms wailed, Leeta snapped her eyes to the part of the display that listed the damages.

Leeta blinked. The nuclear warhead had detonated yes, but according to the tactical display, which was driven by the CIC and the ship's sensors, the warhead had detonated nearly twenty kilometres short of the ship itself. The hull was still damaged from the radiation, EMP and the heat had battered the armour but had not breached it.

A sigh of relief went around the bridge and Leeta looked to her tactical section to see the tactical officer smiling.

"Gotcha'" Lieutenant Commander Liara sighed as she smirked. Leeta looked to her own tactical readouts next to her command chair. According to the main weapons list, one of the forward laser cannons had fired at the same instant the warhead had detonated. Leeta looked back to the Lieutenant Commander.

"Nice shooting guns'" The Captain smiled to the younger woman and said woman returned it.

Captain Leeta looked back to the main holographic display and saw the hostile vessel as it continued its long end-over-end tumble through space - any attempts to keep up the fight seemingly gone with that last explosion - then again, the resulting nuclear explosions were playing havoc with Ka-Laggann's own sensors, infact the prow sensors were blind for the moment and so the pirate was probably still waiting for the haze of interference to clear.

"Tactical," Leeta called out as she looked at the distorted picture of the Vaygr ship. To think, the Vaygr Empire reduced to pirates and raiders - Maakan would be less than impressed to see what his war machine had become Leeta pondered for a moment. Maakan, the Vaygr Warrior-Lord, the false prophet who had brought war to Hiigara nearly sixty years ago. She glanced to the damage codes, by all rights she could return fire and kill the crippled ship that just tried to nuke her own command. "Hit them up with every fire control emission you can. If they even look like they are going to fire - be faster."

Liara acknowledged the order but as she did Leeta was already looking to the helmsman. "Helm - continue with last order."

"Aye aye Ma'am" Senior Chief Petty Officer Kal LiirHra returned as he entered the order to bring the ship to about a thirty thousand kilometres from the damaged pirate.

Leeta looked again to her communications section. The lieutenant looked up toward the Captain as he shook his head - nothing from the pirate. "Keep hailing them - they will be boarded shortly - any resistance will result in their destruction." the lieutenant nodded and began once again trying to raise the not-very-talkative Vaygr. Strange, they seemed talkative enough when they tried to pillage the convoy about an hour ago.

The Captain pressed a combination into her command chair and a new holo-screen flashed into life with the face of Major Harold Manaan, commander of Ka-Laggann's contingent of marines.

"Battalion CP - Major Harold speaking." the surprising soft tones of the broad shouldered Marine came from the holo-screen.

Leeta nodded to the Major. "Battalion CP, Bridge - We have a disabled Vaygr pirate in need of a house call. Maybe you have a few willing souls to help a fellow traveller?" Leeta's eyes narrowed and a wintery half-smile grew across her lips.

The marine major returned the expression to his old friend and his lips pursed for a low whistle. "I think I can find a few good gaalseins amongst my companies - in fact, I think they're already ready to provide assistance ma'am."

"Excellent." Captain Leeta allowed a full smile to grow for a moment before she glanced back to the tactical display. "It shouldn't be long now Major, current intercept with Tango-4 in a little under seven minutes." to which the marine nodded and had a few glances to something that Leeta couldn't see. "Bridge out." Leeta said as she cut the circuit and returned her full attention to the large hologram.

"Any reaction from them?" she asked allowed glancing to tactical and communications in turn. Kreel again shook his head and was joined by Liara a moment later.

"No targeting emissions of any kind?" the Captain asked toward her tactical officer and Liara shook her head.

"Nothing Captain - but she's got every targeting system I have pinging her constantly. So perhaps they've got the message." the tact-officer continued.

Leeta rubbed her chin for a moment before she glanced at the tumbling vessel. "Or we knocked out their inertial compensator and they're little more than paste." she mused aloud, more to herself than anyone else.

Liara pursed her lips as she thought it over. "Maybe. The missile launch could have been simply the last command entered into their fire control."

The Captain hummed in agreement. If the Inertial Compensator on any modern ship failed, death would be near-instantaneous if the ship was moving with anything above reaction thrusters, any ion-based or Grav drive would produce enough G's of force to crush a normal human even at extremely low acceleration.

Typically most sensible nations built their ships with this tidbit in mind and therefore included both extremely rugged compensators and usually back-ups if internal space allowed. But even the most rugged compensator had difficulty operating when hit with a capital-class laser cannon or an exploding section of ship so it wasn't beyond the bounds of possibility that was exactly what happened.

Leeta looked back towards her tactical officer again, a finger and thumb rubbing her chin as she thought it over. "Liara, just in case, have a shell of rescue drones launched and send them out to stabilise Tango-4."

"Aye aye ma'am" she responded and her head dropped back to her console.

...

The alpha company of Ka-Laggann's marine compliment landed on the hull of the lamed cruiser after nearly an hour after the captain expected - sadly correcting the pirate's attitude and bringing their velocity to zero relative to the system's primary had taken longer due to the remaining Vaygr crewmen attempting to do the same, however their efforts hindered the Hiigaran's effort and the Marines eventually had to cripple the reaction thrusters to get the Vaygr to stop. This had the secondary effect of informing the Hiigarans of the Vaygr's survival.

Leeta watched the marines from the vantage point of the battlecruiser's tactical sensors, the holographic display reconfigured to show a high-resolution image of the boarding action. Ringing the display was a series of smaller windows, each displaying the marine's POV helmet displays. The observed marines rotated through in a slow progression, allowing the crewmen and primarily their own commanders to assess any situation from as many angles as they had marines in action.

Liara wasn't watching the boarding action, she and her section had their noses to their own consoles as they watched for the slightest resistance from the pirate vessel. She had several fire plans already locked in and a big red button that would send the order to the marines to evacuate the vessel as fast as their powered combat armour would allow.

To the Captain's left was her Executive Officer, Commander Gail S'jet, freshly arrived from the secondary command deck now the fighting was over for the most part.

The tall woman had her arms crossed as she studied the detail of each of the helmet POVs, mentally assessing and criticizing the marines and the pirates in equal measure. The captain glanced to the patches on the shoulder of the XO's vac-suit, among the many identifier codes the the Ka-Laggann's coat of arms was the crossed rifles and dagger of the Hiigaran Naval Marines, and as a former marine, the XO was well within her rights to assess and criticise as she pleased. Captain Leeta for her part had been Navy since enlisting and had been for the most part shepherded towards the tactical courses and then command paths of the Kevan Soban Naval Academy and had managed to miss the recruitment lines for the Marines at the start of her career.

Gail had made the switch from the Marines to the Navy proper after nearly a decade of service at what could be favourably described as the sharp end of the most recent marine deployments.

Leeta turned to face the XO fully after a moment extra of watching the first squads enter the cruiser without issue. "How long do you think it'll take to clear this cruiser?" she asked.

Gail turned to face her captain and seemed to ponder the question for a moment. "I'd say an hour, depending on damage."

"An hour?" Leeta repeated with a raised eyebrow. "You think they'll face much resistance?"

Gail made a noise that was somewhere between a grunt and a harsh barking laugh, what Leeta and the crew had quickly began to call as the XO's 'evil' chuckle. The tall woman looked to the display again, looking pointedly towards the symbol painted on the side of the hull, the symbol of Maakan, the icon of the Vaygr. "I hope so." she uttered quietly to herself and the captain.

...

Hiigarans had no love for the Vaygr. None what-so-ever. The Vaygr war had started with the destruction of Hiigaran colonies and the siege of Hiigara itself. A siege which saw the use of Atmospheric-Deprivation Planet-Killer weapons, the same weapons that had scoured all life from Kharak, once-home of the many Kiith-clans and the Kushan people over a century ago. Only the timely and miraculous arrival of the ancient warship Sajuuk at Hiigara and the death of Maakan at the Battle of Balcora had saved the fragile world from the same fate.

The Vaygr had always been raiders and pirates, but under the Warrior-Lords they were somewhat self contained and spent much of their time fighting each other and the other neighbouring star nations, far away from Hiigaran space. But after the death of the Taiidani Emperor and the Taiidani Empires subsequent fracturing into the Imperial Remnants and the Taiidani Republics, later becoming the Taiidani Confederation, the Vaygr now found themselves without a major force to disrupt them. Under the influence of Maakan - became a galactic power and they burned their way through Republic and Imperial sectors alike in their warpath. Only Hiigara managed to halt their main advance - and the Vaygr had made them pay for it.

The death toll in Hiigara was sobering, even more when you took into account the relative size of the entire Hiigaran population, out of the then-325 million Hiigarans, nearly 27 million, civilian and military died under Vaygr aggression - it was enough to give pause to any Hiigaran and stir a deep sense of anger in most serving military personnel, almost to the point of cruelness, almost.

After the defeat at Hiigara and the death of their leader - the Vaygr fractured, returning to the disparate leaders that had fallen into line under a single flag, all claiming to continue Makaan's legacy - and they did, for a few years before the Taiidani and Hiigarans were able to strike back and push the unstable pirate-nation into complete disarray, scattering them again across space.

Now the once great 'Silver Horde' that sent millions, if not billions to their deaths and came close to wiping out the Hiigarans were once again little more then isolated pirate bands, simply biding time before the navies of the great star-nations they once plundered got around to finishing them off, once and for all.


	2. Chapter 2

\- Chapter Two -

 _"I can smell the sea, it's only a little farther." — Majiir Paktu-Sa_

So, twenty minutes and a rather fast surrender from the surprisingly compliant Vaygr pirates later, the marines were bringing back the enemy crew to the Ka-Laggann for transport to the system's inhabited planet for eventual trial and probable execution for their crimes.

While Tango-4 would be destroyed after the ship's computers were emptied, the other pirate vessels, which had been captured would be crewed by prize crews and sent home to Hiigara while the rest of the squadron would continue on it's mission.

With the combat situation seemingly resolved, the Ka-Laggann was making it way back to rest of the squadron along with the merchant convoy as they lay in orbit of the only inhabitable planet, the Taiidani Confederate world of Hif-An-Asiim.

The journey at their current speed would take the battlecruiser a little over two hours so Captain Leeta had returned to her day cabin to change out of her vac-suit and into her normally worn uniform.

Captain Leeta looked at herself in the mirror as she pressed closed her uniform with a look of slight annoyance. She was sure something looked out of place in her immaculate blue and black uniform. Her steward had long given up trying to convince her otherwise years ago and left her to fuss for however long the Captain wanted too while he went to make her some tea before the captain left for her department heads meeting.

Leeta was somewhat tall for a Hiigaran, coming in at a little over 183 centimeters and had somewhat lighter skin than the average for a usually quite tan people, especially a people that descended from the Kushan and the desert planet of Kharak. She chalked her lighter skin to years aboard starships and starbases almost from birth. She was a little broader in the shoulders, a trait from her father, yet somehow got her mother's slim waist and hips in her youth, though after years of physical training and military diets, she'd put on enough muscle to fill out the look quite well if Leeta's mother was to believed. She got her mother's violet eyes, another rare trait amongst the dark eyed people of Hiigara and especially rare amongst Kiith Naabal. All these strange and rare aspects had made her stand out, leading to many, many interesting memories during her teenaged years. She however did inherit her father's near pitch-black hair and she'd opted to keep it short for as long she could remember.

Leeta ran a finger around around the red rimmed collar that denoted her status as a captain of a capital ship though she lacked the white highlights that denoted a Battleship command or the blue that denoted a Dreadnought. She ran a finger down the epaulets that bore the three bars-in-gold at the shoulder that marked her rank as Captain. Above the bars on both sides were a half dozen coloured ribbons that marked the commendations she received through her twenty year career in the Navy. Most of them had been earned in peacetime, hunting pirates mainly. Her inspecting finger tapped one ribbon, it was the colour of blood, a deep crimson unadorned with any mark or highlight. The Serene Star, for daring action in the face of the enemy. She'd lost more than a few nights sleep thinking about that ribbon, comforted sometimes only by small bottle of non-regulation spirits she kept in her cabin, and the letters from the families of the men and women she'd saved that day.

Her eyes lingered on it for only a moment more before they moved on with a quick mental shake and got the seemingly endless tugging on her uniform.

The Hiigaran Navy had in its time gone through a few designs for their shipboard uniforms. Their current design was a long sleeved tunic over a deep blue shirt and interface layer, the sleeves of the tunic were black as space itself, ending at the cuff with three gold bars again marking her out as a Captain, the highest bar was capped with a full ring of red like her collar. The chest of the tunic was a deep blue hue as was the back of the tunic. Her trousers were black like the sleeves and on the outer sides was a line of blue running to the bottom.

Leeta fussed with her belt one last time before she gave up her quest to figure out what fit wrong and turned to pick up the tea left for her by Chief Steward Keenan LiirHra. As she sipped the beverage she glanced over her uniform beret as it sat on her desk at one end of the day cabin. black like her tunic but with a blue band at it's base. It also bore the twin-wings, moon and planet motif that was the symbol both of the Navy and the Hiigaran people at large, the symbol of Khar-Toba. The white emblem marked the beret as belonging to a ship's commander regardless of command, otherwise it would have been in the customary black and blue as it was for everyone else, even those who had ascended up the ranks above the command dais.

Leeta quickly scooped up the beret and expertly planted it squarely on her head, it was about the only thing she didn't fuss about as she glanced back into the tall mirror. The reflection of the Captain of the Ka-Laggann looked back. Leeta smirked, if only for an instant when the memories of her 'snotty' or her Midshipmen's cruise her first year out of the academy came back, and the subsequent first time she was invited to dinner with the captain of the Mothership Kapisi along with the Kapisi's entire midi' complement. She smiled at the memory for another moment before the smile left the now more experienced woman as she downed the rest of the tea and made her way to the hatch, her steward sweeping through behind her to pick up the cup and saucer it came on. Leeta nodded to the steward with a thankful smile before leaving the day cabin.

...

It took a few minutes for the department heads to filter into the briefing room after the captain arrived. Commander Gail S'Jet quickly took her place at the opposite end of the table with a curt nod to her captain. The XO placed her beret on the table in front of her. Gail was a head taller than her Captain, a head of light red hair tied into a practical bun. Her amber eyes darted over a dataslate she had laid on the table beside her beret. Gail's still Marine-standard muscle bulk was a shade darker than the Hiigaran light brown, a testament to her time on ground-deployments and training operations. The former marine would not have been described as traditionally beautiful, her face was hard in it's complexion and in the eyes, slightly sunken rings about the eyes and scar tissue under the jaw, both from a childhood infection ruined what would have been an excellent face for HD or holo. The XO's hands were well-worn and lined with tiny scars, as was most of her arms, another reminder of her time in the Marines and the razor-jungles of Tagga Secundus.

The first one was the officer who worked furthest from the briefing room. The Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Commander Mara Somtaaw came in with the look of the harried engineer she was, a uniform crumpled in places and smudges of grease here and there, clearly her duties had kept her from her cabin to change, not that Leeta minded too much. Underneath the layer of grime and brushed away sweat was a woman of average height with a ponytail of dirty blonde hair and flat grey eyes. Her skin was the light brown that marked most Kushan and their descendants, the Hiigarans. She took her place quickly at the table with a flashed salute and a nod to her two superiors.

"Captain, Commander." The Chief Engineer nodded as she took her seat to the left of the Captain and the two returned the welcome.

The next through the hatch was the Tactical Officer. Liara Somtaaw stepped through into the briefing room and came to a parade-sharp salute. Leeta returned it quickly and waved the Lieutenant Commander towards her usual chair. The young woman smiled as she moved to accept it. Liara was similar in skin tone to the captain. She was shorter than her captain by almost a head, and about a decade younger. If her general youthfulness managed to escape notice, then either her bright blue eyes or her slick-back hair with their tips dyed blue would have marked out her youthfulness. The Navy didn't really have a code regarding the hair of their officers and enlisted aside from basic practicality, but it was general practice that garish colours were to be avoided, and so after her time dirtside, Liara would have to wash out her dyes before returning to the uniform, however it was evident that she hadn't managed to do so before reporting to duty and so was in the process of washing it out during their tour. The two Somtaaw welcomed each other with a pleasant smile for the other before Liara took her seat opposite the Lieutenant Commander to the right of her captain. Buildwise, Liara was the picture of a 'delicate' build, slim in the shoulders and waist, and relatively thin everywhere else, though she had enough muscle to pass the bi-yearly fitness tests that the Hiigaran Navy required of their serving crews.

Leeta watched the two Kiith-sisters for a moment as they prepared for the meeting, laying a dataslate and quickly skimming it again before the others arrived. The older Chief Engineer and the younger Tactical Officer were vastly different in skin tone, build, features, age and parentage and yet they were aunt and niece, much like Leeta was sister or aunt to every other Naabalid on the Ka-Laggann, and the same for Commander Gail and those of Kiith S'Jet.

The Kiith were the family-nations of Hiigara with each Kiith having their own histories and internal traditions. Branches of the Kiith could be long and twisted, like the two Somtaaw before the captain, but they would always be family to each other. New blood married in and out all the time and sometimes Hiigarans would change Kiith if they felt more at home with another Kiith than their own - though that was a reasonably uncommon occurrence. All newborns came into the Kiith of their mothers and were raised typically with dozens of aunts and uncles to care for them, though their mothers and fathers would always remain the primary caregivers as the child grew. Leeta had grown up usually aboard ships or space stations, but due to Kiith Naabal's massive population, she was rarely far from relatives.

Kiith S'Jet was arguably the most prestigious of the hundreds of Kiith, after all they could call the Sajuuk-Khar, Karan S'Jet their Kiith-sa, their leader and representative in the daiamid, the planetary senate of Hiigara. Their true influence however came from their scientific research and educational centres that were the envy of all Hiigara. Kiith Naabal on the other hand were leaders in the light industrial and shipbuilding sectors across Hiigaran territories, this along with their larger-than-average population saw their influence on par with the S'Jet and their other contemporaries.

Leeta glanced again at the younger Tactical Officer, Kiith Somtaaw was Hiigara's foremost authority on frontier mining and resource operations as well as refinement - their mining fleets, especially the Kuun-Lan Fleet were the envy of other Kiith. The Somtaaw were, like most Hiigarans, natural spacers so they were often seen in overalls and uniform of the Hiigaran Navy, though usually as auxiliaries as the smaller Kiith needed every hand they could in their thinly spread mining fleets.

Leeta's train of thought was derailed suddenly as a new figure stepped through the hatch and came to a brisk salute. The captain returned it and again waved the officer to her seat. Yanna Naabal, Lieutenant Commander in charge of the Ka-Laggann's Electronic Warfare Suites and Drones. A tall woman, a few centimetres above the captain, with bright blonde hair that was barely contained in a ponytail braid. She was easily the most attractive of Leeta's officers, with a figure that would be called voluptuous by some of the members of her crew. Her physique was matched only by her agility and dexterity, as in the inter-ship unarmed tournaments had proven two years in a row. As she sat, her green eyes flashed up and down the table before Yanna locked eyes with her aunt and nodded respectfully before turning to talk to Liara. Those two worked very close together as EW, ECM, ECCM and Drone warfare were intricately linked with the Tactical department but large enough to warrant it's own department and in turn, it's own Lieutenant Commander to oversee it.

The Electronics Officer was quickly followed through the hatch by Lieutenant Commander Tobin Kaalel, the Ka-Laggann's Logistics and Supply Officer, another native son of Hiigara, with a short build and wide shoulders with a head of thinning hair and well-worn stress lines on his brow. His salute was probably the sketchiest the captain had seen all day but she let it pass without comment as he took his seat - she knew more then most Tactical-route officers just how much there was on a logistics officer's shoulder and to some degree she sympathised, it wasn't easy keeping everyone on a Battlecruiser fed, clothed, armed, warm and any other of the scores of things the ship itself needed. His dark eyes dropped immediately to the dataslate he'd brought with him and almost by habit he dropped forwards onto his forearms as he poured over it and it's contents. Leeta suppressed a grin as she watched his brow crease again.

The ship's Chief Navigator entered next, Lieutenant Commander Hassan S'Jet, a short man by most standards and with skin as dark as space and nearly as dark eyes. Despite his stature, intellectually the man was highly impressive, when he reported for duty Leeta was shocked by just how many degrees he'd achieved in such a short time, Xenobiology, Spatial Mechanics, Advanced Hyper Physics, Xenolinguistics to name a few and along side the Naval Academy's courses for both his current post as Navigator and more than a few in the Tactical schools though he hadn't attended the Advanced Tactical School that Leeta, Gail and Liara had attended. He was a fair few years older than Leeta and the rest of the crew but he was possessed with a sense of purpose even the most dedicated Midshipman would be pressed to match, he could have turned that into any number of careers, including command. His only flaw perhaps was his own quietness, not shyness but something akin to it. For now however the Navigator came to a parade ground salute and Leeta returned it in kind - she liked the Chief Navigator, it seemed he had dedicated his life to space and it's exploration and yet in the end had settled for a career with the Navy to go out and see it. If he had to be party to a few combat actions here and there? Then so be it. Leeta could respect that.

Hassan nodded to his niece at the far end of the table to Leeta and Gail returned it gracefully. As Hassan took his allotted seat and laid his beret upon the table Leeta reflected for a moment on how Kiith S'Jet had changed in a few short centuries. The S'jet were once the great Scientist-Scholars of Kharak, their libraries, education and laboratories were legendary and to this day they commanded a powerful presence in those fields but ever since the Final War of Kharak and the discovery of the First City, the Khar-Toba, then the construction of the Mothership and the ascension of Karan S'jet, the Homeworld War and the Vaygr War, the Kiith S'Jet had been becoming more and more martially minded, the upper echelons of the Navy's command structure were littered with S'Jet Admirals and station commanders, equalling the mercenary and military focused Kiith Soban and out numbered perhaps only by Kiith Naabal. Under Kiith-sa Karan the S'jet had thrown themselves wholeheartedly into both the military and politics, much like the once reclusive Naabal had done centuries before.

It took another moment for the last trio of officers to arrive, one was Major Harold, fresh from the Vaygr light cruiser, his salute was parade ground sharp and he bore a wry grin as he took his place at the table and leaned to have a quiet conversation with the XO before the meeting.

The next was the ship's chief medical officer, Medicae-Commander Calum LiirHra. He wore a different uniform from the blue and black of the others, instead wearing black and red of the Medicae-branch of the Navy. The Commander was a thin man, with brown eyes and sharp features matched by a finely maintained moustache and equally maintained black hair. Leeta nodded to the experienced medical officer as he sat.

Kiith LiirHra was best known for their shipbuilding, often called the Master Shipbuilders of Hiigara, they had worked on the Kushan Mothership and on virtually every other capital ship since - the Ka-Laggann was a Naabalid construction but LiirHra had a stranglehold on the construction of virtually every class of ship heavier than a Battlecruiser, seeing them in uniform aboard ship wasn't rare, but seeing one in the red of a Medicae was rare indeed.

The last of the officers to arrive was also the most junior, Lieutenant Senior Grade Kreel Naabal, ship's acting communication officer. The young Naabalid came to a sharp attention and Leeta took a moment to look over one of her nephews. A man of average height and build with sharp brown eyes and brown hair, but possessed with a level of enthusiasm seen only in first cruise midshipmen before age and routine set in. Leeta liked that, along with his shockingly good competence at the ins and outs of the communication systems, hence why Leeta had made the young man an acting Lieutenant Commander overseeing her communications section, her previous Communications Officer had been transferred out before the Ka-Laggann departed and they didn't have time to take aboard a new one. ' _Naval Personnel Administration',_ Leeta thought sourly, ' _A classic case of left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Moving one officer for greener pastures without getting a replacement ready before the Admiralty orders take effect'._

Captain Leeta saluted her nephew with a little smile and indicated the waiting chair. The young man took it quickly and lacking a certain grace but no one said anything as he placed his beret on the table like the rest of the officers. Leeta looked over the group in front of her as she removed her own beret and placed in on the table in front of her. ' _So many Kiith around one table and they didn't immediately descend into arguing over protocol, the fate of the older Kiith, who did what best - frankly, the daiamid could learn a thing or two from the Navy'_ Leeta mentally noted. ' _I suppose there was a reason for the initial resistance to the idea of the Navy when the Kushan arrived on Hiigara.'_

For many years the Kiithid had commanded their own fleets, crewing them almost exclusively with their own members and for a time, during the early years after returning to Hiigara this had been fine, the only exceptions being the Motherships. But after Kiith Somtaaw encountered a strange anomaly and had to retrofit their mining fleet for combat, the daiamid stepped in and formed the Naval Service, an organisation higher than the individual Kiithid, similar to the Health Service, the Intelligence Service and to an extent, the educational institutions along with the daiamid and it's subsequent agencies itself. It saw the battle fleets of the individual Kiithid reformed under a central authority and saw the homogenous-crews of those ships begin to disappear within a few years. By the time of the Vaygr War, the unified Hiigaran Navy was stronger and better staffed than ever before - much to the Vaygr's dismay.

A moment passed as the side conversations died down and the eyes turned towards the captain.

"Well." Leeta started with a cursory glance around the table. "We came out of that alright." to which she received a barrage of grins. Leeta permitted herself a slight grin herself before she leaned forwards and dived right into the meeting.

"First, I'd like to commend each of you for a well executed engagement - I can't think of any parts that I could single out for any major improvement. If the XO can think of any, I'm sure she'll bring them up in a moment." Leeta glanced to Gail. "Otherwise I'd like to dwell for a moment on the simple question before us. Why this ramshackle squadron of pirates, Vaygr no less, were operating so brazenly. Up until now, or at least, very recently, the Vaygr-pirates stayed a fair distance from Hiigara. To find three cruisers and two destroyers operating here, this close to Hiigaran space is most disturbing. Thoughts?"

The captain took a moment to breath and gather her next set of thoughts as her subordinates did the same.

"Most we used to see out here were the most desperate of pirates, often operating in singletons or very, very small frigate flotillas, anything larger than a destroyer was practically unheard of in the Confed'. I am also disturbed with the apparent capabilities and design of the ships we encountered. Newer hulls and weapons - of course I don't think they ever planned to engage a Hiigaran Battlecruiser and her Cruiser squadron-mates - but what they do have would make wrecks of virtually every system defence picket in the Confederation." Gail mused aloud as she glanced to a holo-display that showed the known systems and weapons of the Vaygr Light Cruiser they had destroyed.

The tactical officer grunted something to herself as she played with the dataslate in front of her. "Most of it is a few years from being out of date by our standards, yes, but their ECM and main batteries are surprisingly capable for their age." She glanced to Yanna who nodded in agreement. "Could it be ma'am that they are simply more confident?" she glanced to the captain. "With their newer weapons and new degree of superiority over the locals, they simply dived deeper into the confederation, thinking that they could handle whatever they found?"

A ripple of nods flowed around the table, skipping the XO as she now had a look a deep thought as she read over her own dataslate.

"Perhaps." Tobin agreed. "Could be that the new arms have made their old stomping ground less… lucrative than they once were, so they came to try their hand this close to Hiigara, doesn't take an oracle to know that hitting a Hiigaran Merchant is a significant haul for a Vaygr, or any other pirate for that matter."

"Maybe." Liara returned, "So a combination of confidence and greed." she shrugged "sounds like the usual reasons pirates do anything."

The XO leaned forwards and looked to the tactical officer. "I don't know." she said before she glanced to the Major beside her. "While that does answer a lot on the face of it - it doesn't add up entirely."

The major leaned forwards as well and looked up and down the table. "We're still going through the captured personnel and a partially erased computer core - but something else is at play if I might suggest Commander." the marine addressed to Liara who listened intently. "Some of the interviewees have talked about 'orders' to head this way, apparently bypassing easier scores along the way - sadly they haven't said anymore then that."

The XO nodded before taking over. "Unfortunately, what we have of their crew manifest seems to indicate that the captain and the top eschalon of the ship's officers were killed when a chain reaction blew out their bridge and CIC. All we have in custody are simple line officers and the few higher ranking ones we do have are currently in critical condition." she nodded to the Medicae-Commander.

"Yes, we have their Chief Engineer but she was caught badly when their engineering compartment was, damaged." Calum said to the Captain and a nod to the Tactical Officer. "She's currently unconscious at the moment and I give her one chance in three of waking up again."

The captain hummed and nodded before the XO continued. "Much of the logs were either wiped or corrupted - we have a few complete reports, sadly nothing major, and their navigational computers were wiped, so we don't know where they're based out off." Gail continued at a steady pace, after however she grew a tight humourless grin. "We did however get our hands on some heavily encrypted files. We'll try to break them open in due course but a quick analysis indicates that the level and strength of the encryption is well above the norm."

The captain raised an eyebrow and looked the XO a question.

"I'm not sure either skipper, it does however back up what we've heard from the captured crew that they were under higher orders to head out this way. However, I've already tasked CIC to give them the once over - but I feel we may have to hand these off to Oracle unopened."

The XO shrugged apologetically and sat back in her seat. Oracle, the name within the navy for its intelligence arm, the Office of Military-Naval Intelligence, OMNI or simply 'Omni' to the line officers. Oracle was in reference to the Oracle of Gehenna, which aided the Hiigarans during the Vaygr War to ultimately discover the warship Sajuuk and save Hiigara. OMNI's arguably most known facility was based at Gehenna and so they earned the moniker, Oracle.

"That is a shame, but if it comes to it then so be it." the Captain said after a moment of quiet. "We could link up with Gehenna in a few weeks, if not then a Dispatch Boat will have to suffice - you have until then. I'd rather not transmit that sort of information via Comm Relay." to this the XO nodded and noted something into her dataslate. "Was nothing recoverable from their nav systems?" the XO shook her head at the question and Leeta frowned for a moment. "Well, so be it. Anything else?"

The Captain gestured for her subordinates to go on and leaned back into her chair.

"Yes ma'am." The XO said as tapped her dataslate.

...

The world of Hif-An-Asiim floated as it had any other day in the universe, completely unaware and uncaring of the lives of those who lived on it's surface and the larger galaxy about it. A spinning ball of green and blue, with an atmosphere of nitrogen and oxygen, with a comfortable 0.98 standard gravity at sea-level and a naturally levo-amino flora and fauna. A textbook garden world by definition, more then easily capable to sustaining human life. It orbited a text-book G2 primary at a text-book 1.02 AU orbit with a text-book orbital rotation of 367 days and a local rotation of an almost text-book 25 hours. Text-book in every conceivable way - just like the people living on that planet wanted it when they settled there.

It wasn't a particularly affluent world by any stretch but it had a strong domestic economy and some extra-system trade with its neighbors and the Taiidani Confederation as a whole. They also did a reasonable amount of goods trade with Hiigara, hence the merchant convoy in the area and the Anti-Piracy Squadron that came through the area.

The high orbitals of the planet were littered with space stations and orbital warehouses, not to mention hundreds of ships and space vehicles as they came and went through the system, most of them locally based, a few hyper-capable vessels bore the transponders of Taiidani Interstellar Corporations save the eight freighters that squawked Hiigaran Merchant Marine codes, the four silent pirate vessels and the bright and powerful transponders of the Hiigaran Navy.

The 147th Cruiser Squadron, 7th Fleet, Hiigaran Navy consisted of six ships with the Ka-Laggann as the Squadron Command Ship, without a flag officer present it didn't warrant the title of flagship. The Battlecruiser was joined by the Shiinra and Tiir'La, both last generation Kaitan-class Heavy Cruisers, each still as deadly as the day they left the shipyards. Captain Reeger S'Jet commanded the Shiinra and Captain Huron Kaalel commanded the Tiir'La. The squadron was rounded out by a trio of current generation Karan-Class Light Cruisers, the Siigaan, the Gethsemane and the Ka-Katii, under Commander Leandra Naabal, Commander Kendra Somtaaw and Commander Jonas Naabal respectively.

The Battlecruiser flew into position near her consorts, slipping into the patch of orbit put aside for her by the local's orbital control computers. The warship came to a relative stop over the deep blue of the sea and fifteen thousand kilometres from Reeger's Shiinra.

Space, vast and silent stretched into eternity above Ka-Laggan. It was serene in its silence, calming and inviting to all who looked upon it.

It was not serene in the main briefing room. The department heads had departed sometime earlier and now Captain Leeta Naabal sat in front of a hologram of the lead captain of the Merchant Convoy, Merchant-Captain Kevin Naabal. Leeta kept a calm expression as she watched the other man fumble over himself to give any excuse he could think of.

"Which does not answer my question Captain." Leeta cut the man off before he could launch into another long-winded speech of the hows and whys of his current situation. "You left Hiigara twenty-one standard days ago, but dispatches from the Admiralty say that you shouldn't have left until two weeks ago, and you were supposed to be with an escort - an escort that seems to be absent, so I ask you again Captain, where is the escort?" she narrowed her eyes as she spoke calmly. "Three destroyers do not simply vanish."

The other man fidgeted visibly. He glanced away for a moment while he tried to form a reply. For the last few hours he had spoken at great length about how important his cargo was, how much it was worth and the costs involved if they missed their delivery window. Merchant-Captain Kevin Naabal had set out over a week ahead of their scheduled departure time. Having the Merchant Marine assembled and waiting for an escort wasn't a rare sight, the Navy had many commitments and they only had so many ships available at any one time.

Usually 8th Fleet took up the responsibility for providing those escorts in conjunction with 7th Fleet, who fielded the Anti-Piracy operations. The primary battle fleets, the 1st through 5th Fleets were often too involved with long-range patrols or actively engaged to divert any of their squadrons, and often the ships they had were unsuited for the work of escorts. The Battle Fleets typically consisted primarily of Battleships, Dreadnoughts, Carriers and the vaunted Motherships. Cruisers were used as screening elements within those fleets. Sometimes the daiamid would direct a battle fleet to undertake anti-piracy operations, usually to smash any pirate star-forts, rare as it was and they often left it to the far more suited 7th Fleet which consisted of primarily of cruiser squadrons along with Battlecruisers and Destroyers, though the 7th Fleet did have a few carriers and one Mothership, the Adiim.

After a few moments the Captain finally spoke. "We were pressured due to the limited window the contracts stipulated. We would have incurred considerable late-fees if we missed those windows." Leeta raised a single eyebrow as she looked at the older 'uncle' through narrowed eyes. The other man saw it and continued to speak. "We communicated the Admiralty the urgency of our timetable." he smiled, as if he was trying to give a niece some bad gift on Landing Day.

"I'll ask again." Leeta repeated with the same calm she'd been taught at the Sobani Military academy. "Where are your escorts." she already knew the answer but she needed _him_ to say it on record.

The Merchant-Captain looked nervous for a moment, he knew it too, and he knew the consequences. Evidently he had thought he could get away with it. "We… er, yeah, we left without our assigned escort." he said after a long moment.

Silence fell over the room as the Merchant-Captain looked away his mouth working, as it trying to find a reason but he stayed silent until Leeta spoke.

The Captain of the Ka-Laggann, Battlecruiser of the Hiigaran 7th Fleet and daughter of Kiith Naabal nodded slowly as the fellow Naabali finally said what she waited nearly an hour to hear. Now, the dye was cast - leaving for a risk-prone area such as the Taiidani Confederation against the advice of the Admiralty that pirate activity was picking up, then departing without the assigned escorts was something close to a cardinal sin to the Hiigaran Navy, and considered grossly stupid in the eyes of the general Merchant Marine. Leeta held her flint-hard gaze on the other man for a few heartbeats more before she spoke, her tone never changing.

"Merchant-Captain. How many lives are aboard your convoy?" she asked as if she was simply filling out a form.

Again the other man's mouth worked but no sound came out for a moment.

"I ask again Captain Kevin, how many souls are aboard your convoy." she repeated, her tone sliding towards something icey.

"Approximately two hundred and thirty nine." he answered quietly.

Leeta nodded again. "And are you willing to take responsibility for those two hundred and thirty nine souls, Hiigarans."

Kevin Naabal looked now directly into the eyes of his younger niece. He said nothing but his eyes widen slightly. He knew where this was going. Leeta's eyes sharpened even more, if they could, they would have bored a pair of lasers through the other man. "As a man who takes such a responsibility, as a leader of men, as a Captain of a starship and a Hiigaran and son of Kharak and Hiigara. Surely it behooves you to take all due consideration for the lives under your care?" she posed with a slight twist of her head. "Surely you would take all precaution when their freedom and very lives are in your hands?"

To his credit, Kevin didn't avert his gaze now, his eyes pleaded for forgiveness but he wouldn't let himself the small comfort of looking away.

"Yes." he uttered after another moment of silence, the tone was dry, drained of all emotion. Leeta pitched her head back as if waiting for more. "Yes." he continued, "I, as captain of this vessel and leader of this convoy - should take all due precaution to insure the lives of my crew."

"And you failed to do so, as you promised you would when you took up the job did you not?" Leeta pressed and the other captain nodded.

"I see." she said after another instant. "Well, this leaves me in a rather awkward position." Leeta said as she tapped a brief command into the briefing room terminal in front of her. "You are to depart for Celan after the stop here are you not?" she didn't really wait to see the response, she had a full manifest from the Merchant, she knew where they were going before he checked to see and respond. "The 147th will escort you to Celan when we are done here, then we will escort you directly to the fleet base at Gehenna."

The Merchant skipper opened his mouth to protest but Leeta cut him off with a raised finger. "We are travelling to Celan anyway and so you might as well finish your business there but then you will return to Hiigaran space, and we shall ensure that you do. All other business you have within the Confederacy is no longer your concern."

"But you can't do this." Kevin replied, his voice rising slowly. "You know how much cargo we have to drop off? How much goods-value we have left in our holds if we don't complete this run..." he spluttered in protest.

Leeta cut him off again. "I know precisely the value of your loads." she barked, her eyes lasers again. "Two hundred and thirty eight." and for a second, Leeta could have sworn she could see a look of confusion on the Merchant's face. "Two hundred and thirty eight men and woman, adults with a lifetime of training and education, with Kiithid of their own, with wants and wishes of their own, with _lives_ of their own. I don't care what you have in those holds _Captain_ , it doesn't outweigh the value of those lives." she very-nearly shouted, her eyes blazing at the older man.

The merchant skipper went silent and his face showed the defeat he'd been fighting for an hour now.

Leeta took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. "Now, this topic is over as is this conversation - you _will_ report to me the status of your ships within the hour and then I expect we will be underway as soon as our business with the Taiidani is concluded." she said, her tone once again calm and steady. "Ka-Laggann out." and with that she killed the channel and the hologram of the other man vanished.


	3. Chapter 3

_\- Chapter Three -_

" _We have detected a disturbing waveform en route to Hiigara, we believe it is the Vaygr. Recommend full alert." - Fleet Intelligence prior to the First Battle of Hiigara (Vaygr War)._

The business with the Taiidani Confederacy was the haul of Vaygr Pirates and their trial for piracy. A series of transports made their way from the surface of Hif-An-Asiim to Ka-Laggann and the other ships of the squadron.

Executive Officer, Commander Gail S'Jet stood on the flight deck as the first of them arrived. The boxy yellow transport came to a slow and steady stop on pad assigned to it inside the Battlecruiser.

The flight deck was a wide space towards the rear of the Battlecruiser and it stretched deep into the ship on both sides. It allowed the Battlecruiser to service up to six wings of interceptors, bombers and gunship corvettes along with scores of shuttlecraft, transports and dropships for her onboard Marine complement. The only time Battlecruisers received those combat wings was when said BC was operating as part of the battle fleets. The Ka-Laggann had precisely one wing of interceptors as part of her anti-piracy complement and even then the wing was rarely employed due to the nature of their capabilities. Interceptors had little effect against the cruisers and destroyers the Ka-Laggann had encountered in her patrol so far. Most combat space vehicles were typically employed during larger fleet actions were shoals of bombers and Ion Gunships who could do major damage to a capital ship and the Interceptors and Gunships escorted them to their targets and in turn defended the capital ships against enemy bombers. When running down cruisers and destroyers however the Interceptors were ineffectual at best, they couldn't carry the weapons loadouts needed to damage such heavy ships.

So now the Interceptors stayed in their hangar and the flight deck was given entirely over to the other space vehicles and small craft employed by the squadron.

Since the Taiidani transports was small enough to fit in the flight deck it could forgo the use of the boarding tubes usually employed for ship-to-ship transfers. The Commander was joined by several squads of Marines as she waited for the representatives for the ancient enemies of the Hiigarans to step on to to the Hiigaran ship.

Gail gave herself a mental rebuke, it wasn't fair to think of the Taiidani of the present day as the old Taiidan Empire and the Confederacy had gone out of it's way to apologise and make concessions and reparations to the Hiigarans in the earlier years, the Taiidani Republic infact had, after the Bentusi, been among the first interstellar nations to recognise the Kushan Refugees as a true Star Nation, something that helped the diminished people immensely.

Gail glanced to the Marines beside her. They had forgone the full-enclosed battlesuits they typically wore and instead went with an armoured vest. Their uniforms were padded with resistant materials though a military-grade weapon would penetrate the heat and kinetic-resistant material at such close range. The vest however was equipped with multi-layered armour plates that could take a few hits from a military-grade small arm, not that they expected any trouble from the arriving transports, after all the hangar and flight deck was equipped with heavy automated defences should the unthinkable occur and if nothing else, the crew could simply deactivate the atmosphere-barriers and vent the entire deck into space. The Marines had aside from their vests and garrison uniforms, a ballistic helmet each with all the tech and electronics that could be stuffed into them without needing the battlesuit's power supply. They each also carried either their standard pulse rifle, a long slender weapon, a shorter pulse carbine or the flechette rifle which was analogous perhaps to the old Kushan 'shotgun', a potent weapon for shipboard fighting.

Each weapon operated off the same principle, solid projectiles excited via electromagnets within the barrel and propelled out at great speed. The Pulse Rifle and Carbine also wrapped their projectiles in a small pocket of plasma to increase target penetration whereas the flechette rifle relied on a cloud of high-velocity shards to rip apart lightly armoured targets. The Pulse weapons lacked the strength of the Gauss Rifle or Rail Sniper, both of which emphasised sheer kinetic power and they also lacked the damage and penetration of the Hiigaran plasma weapons. Those two grades of weapons were frankly overkill for use aboard ship and generally reserved for planetside duties.

As if on que the personnel hatch cracked open on the transport and a man stepped out. He was tallish though a few centimetres short of the Captain and more the yellow on red uniform that had persisted on from the days of the Empire. The newcomer turned his head, taking in the view of the Battlecruiser's flight deck and hangar facilities before nodding to the woman in front of him in the uniform of a Hiigaran Naval Officer and several other Naval personnel. The man strode down the short flight of stairs that had descended from the personnel hatch to the deck sole. He came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs just before the Hiigaran Officer of the Deck, a Lieutenant with a databoard and a handful of sideboys waiting to receive the Taiidani arrival.

"Ma'am." he said as he came to attention and saluted. "Underlieutenant He'gan de'Sultz, Hif-An-Asiim System Defence Force, Taiidani Confederacy."

The Hiigaran lieutenant returned the salute. "Sir, Lieutenant Kelly Paktu, Ka-Laggann, Hiigaran Navy." she answered in the formal tones of the standard greeting of two navies meeting like this.

He'gan de'Sultz smiled thinly and nodded as the two dropped the salute. "Permission to come aboard Lieutenant, I am here to take custody of your unwanted guests."

"Permission granted Underlieutenant, will the others of your crew be disembarking?" she asked after a quick glance up to the still open hatch.

He'gan shook his head. "No, they will wait inside to receive our cargo." to which Lieutenant Kelly nodded and took a step back to allow the foreign military officer to step fully off his own transport and onto the deck sole of the Ka-Laggann. He immediately turned towards the Commander and took three long strides to bring himself within speaking distance. He once again came to the Taiidani equivalent of attention and salute once again. "Ma'am." he said once again in his thick accent.

Gail returned it as sharply as the Lieutenant before her. "Underlieutenant. I am Commander Gail S'Jet, executive officer of this ship." she dropped the salute and the other officer followed suit. The Taiidani officer said nothing but nodded sharply. "Are you prepared to take aboard the pirates?" she asked with an expectant tone, it was all really formality at this point, all the clearances had been exchanged between herself, the captain and the SDF command structure hours before but there were traditions to observe afterall.

"Yes Commander." the Underlieutenant nodded again. "Whenever is to your pleasure."

Gail allowed herself a smirk for a moment. "Excellent, as soon as possible." she turned to face the Marine sergeant who was waiting patiently for his part to play in this little production they were putting on. "Sergeant, have the prisoners brought through and off my ship with all due haste."

"Yes ma'am." the Marine NCO said in a dry flat tone before raising his hand to his neck and pressing the stud that activated his radio and his throat-pickup. "The order is given, clear the pirates from the ship."

Before either the Commander or Underlieutenant could say or do anything, a blast door behind the group that led deeper into the ship cracked open. The heavy doors pulled away to reveal a compartment filled with bodies, more Marines, these ones in their full battlesuits, and a lot more vaygr pirates, all of whom looked like they wished they were somewhere very different at this moment.

As the Commander took a look over the prisoners, the Vaygr, she realised she'd grown something like a knot in the pit of her stomach. _A knot of anger perhaps? of hate?_ she thought to herself. _Maybe, it's not like pirates don't deserve it._ She put those thoughts away for a later time as the NCO encouraged the pirates forwards.

The faces of the Vaygr flashed toward the Commander and the Underlieutenant as they stepped towards the transport. Gail looked over their faces, these pirates were mostly Taiidani humans, a few Ar-shii and to the dismay of all the crew of the Ka-Laggann, one Hiigaran who had fled his post years ago to join the pirates. A few slaves had been liberated from the pirate squadron, again mostly humans of either the Taiidani or Hiigara, sadly most the slaves had died during the fighting as they were not provided with space-capable suits and as such died when their compartments were opened to space whereas their overseers, in their armoured vac-suits survived.

Gail wasn't surprised in the least to find not a single Vay, the original Vaygr Warriors among their number. Most surviving Vay had fled after the various powers in the galaxy smashed the Vaygr Crusade-Holds during and after Makaan's invasions, very few Vay crewed anything less than Motherships or Dreadnoughts, anything less was left to the far more numerous non-Vay who had joined their cause over the centuries.

Gail had met a few Vay in her years as a Marine, often they were captives but Gail could recall one Vay trader out on the Kadesh Rim. The Vay were a squat race, with thin arms and legs but a surprising tolerance to vacuum and incredible spatial awareness, they were also aggressive and warlike to a fault save the few traders. For centuries, or perhaps even millennia the Vay had marauded through the Vaygr Reaches on sub-light drives in massive, system conquering 'Crusades'. Then one day some bright spark gave them Hyperdrive technology and suddenly they expanded their operations.

The Underlieutenant held his ground for a moment as the prisoners were forced forwards him, he looked over the first of the Vaygr with a look of sheer disgust as he looked over his own countryman. In fact, the Underlieutenant looked like he wanted spit as the Vaygr drew to his full height and looked down his nose as the smaller, younger officer. With a sneer and wave of his hands, the underlieutenant turned and began to march back towards the transport, pirates in tow.

Gail took a few steps back to allow the battlesuited Marine to pass. The deep black and brown warplate stomped on by with only the barest of nods to his superior.

The XV-33 Battlesuit was not massive by any means, compared to Taiidani War-Armour at least, it made the Marine wearing it nearly a foot taller than he was without it. Clad head to toe in auto-reactive battle-alloy plates, a powered exoskeleton and festooned with firepower, the XV-33s made a single Marine a cross between a platoon of un-power armoured infantry, and a main battle tank. The battle-alloy was a blended mix of titanium, Iridium and kevlar weaved together with an energy-dispersing liquid-crystal layer underneath which when combined, meant that the alloy could not only shrug off all but the heaviest conventional small arms, but also reduced the effectiveness of energy-weapons to all but heavy-vehicle class weapons. The Battlesuit was also modular, so it could be tailored for each individual assignment and engagement almost on the fly if needed.

These Marines ran their suits in standard configuration, or 33C-01. The main weapon of a battlesuit wearer was often the gauss rifle carried like any other soldier would carry his rifle. The Gauss rifle was usually considered a squad automatic weapon and a rare one at that due to it's weight primarily but that was no issue for the powered endoskeletons of the Battlesuits. This heavy weapon was backed up with several others mounted directly to the suit itself and controlled through a variety of systems, some including neural-input.

The Marine who passed Gail had mounted on his back, a standard issue thruster-pack, a grenade launcher and a laser cannon, the former for general purpose use, and the latter for engaging light or medium vehicles. Both were slung back as their use in the flight deck was discouraged to say the least. The Marine mounted on his forearms another pair of weapons, on the left arm he mounted an incinerator, which could project either a stream of fire at up to sixty-feet or emit a cloud as needed, and the right arm mounted what could be considered the flechette rifles bigger brother, a shredstorm cannon, simply an upscaled variant of the anti-personnel weapon.

Gail watched in cold, detached approval as the dozen armoured Marines and the same again unarmoured Marines shepherded the nearly sixty Vaygr to the waiting transport - whose main cargo ramp had lowered in preparation and a pair of Taiidani War-Armours stood ready to meet them, their own two twin-linked tri-barrel pulse cannons clearly visible, not to mention the chest mounted flak cannons, the yet again upscaled version of the shredstorm cannon.

Gail followed a few feet behind the Marines as they handed their charges to the Taiidani. The Underlieutenant raised his chin ever-so-slightly as he watched the last of the Vaygr sit in the allocated harness and the War-Armours stomped about the hold, their massive guns tracking incessantly.

"They'll get what they deserve." The young officer muttered and Gail turned to face him half-surprised, the Underlieutenant was equivalent to a very junior or even a sub-lieutenant in Hiigaran service. The younger man turned to face her and she heard his heels snap together. "Ma'am, I count fifty-seven prisoners to be transported, is this correct?" he said as if he hadn't said anything.

Gail glanced to the Marine NCOs as they double checked the logs themselves before giving her a nod - she already knew the number of prisoners but again tradition demanded some strange things and she nodded to the Underlieutenant. "Yes Underlieutenant, fifty-seven is the correct number."

"Well then ma'am." He'gan said as he came to attention and snapped of a crisp Taiidani salute. "With your permission, I shan't keep you."

Gail returned her own sharp Hiigaran salute. "Permission granted Underlieutenant, Godspeed."

"And with you ma'am." he returned before they both dropped the formal gesture and the Underlieutenant made his way back into his transport.

As gracefully he had arrived, the Taiidani left - his boxy transport was picked up by internal tractor beams and gently pushed back through the atmosphere-barriers. His engines came back up to power and he began his three-hour flight back to the planet below.

Three more transports flew up to the Ka-Laggann and another dozen across the entire squadron over the next hour. Gail stood and watched over each transfer and each time it went off without hitch, thankfully. Though the pirates knew what was waiting for them on the planet below, a trial and the very real chance of the death penalty. They knew they had a better chance of survival with that very slim chance, rather than certain death at the hands of either a Hiigaran Battlesuit or a Taiidani War-Armour if they resisted and so, aside from some muttering, the pirates bore it reasonably stoically considering. Gail gave them that begrudgingly.

As the last transport lit off its engines and began it's own flight, Commander Gail S'Jet turned to the Flight Deck crew and the Marines and gave them thankful nods before turning to make her way back to her own cabin - calls for third watch to take over had just rang out through the ship and that meant it was time for Gail to find her sleeping cabin, of which she was grateful.

*.*.*.*

Once again the entire command staff found itself on the bridge nearly a day later. The Navigator was hunched over his console as he worked the course to Celan while the Helmsman prepared for permission to leave Hif-An-Asiim.

Leeta glanced to the main holographic display, now configured to show the navigational plot, detailing the system and her position within it. Her squadron, the merchant ships and the prize vessels assumed the standard escort formation. The merchants and more damaged prizes in the centre with the combat-capable vessels surrounding them. The Ka-Laggann assumed a position that might be considered 'above' the convoy and the prizes were tucked close to the far more fragile merchants ships while the Light Cruisers were wide out to the sides as a flank guard. The Heavy Cruisers stuck out ahead and aft of the convoy and they were already rearing to go as the command ship waited for the local traffic control to clear them.

Leeta felt a familiar presence beside her and glanced up to see her XO as she strode across the deck to examine the console of the communication officer. Leeta let her pass without comment and turned back to the plot and the visual display. They had been awaiting clearance to depart for almost thirty standard minutes and a few of the crew had grumbled among themselves, nothing loud enough for Leeta to make out but also loud enough for her to notice something was being said, and she had to agree somewhat - the volume of space they needed to depart had been clear for hours and still they were waiting for permission to leave. Of course they could leave at anytime, after all it wasn't like the days of old, where Kiith Paktu ship's would drop anchors or tie their sand skimmers to rigging which the locals would cut loose, the Ka-Laggann was of course a starship and completely capable of breaking free of gravity under her own power at any time.

"Anything?" Leeta mused allowed with a glance to Gail who shook her head in return. It was a purely superficial question, if anything had been sent then the Comm Officer would have mentioned it by now but it did break the quiet on the bridge if only for a moment. With a low grunt Leeta eyed the plot's sidebars. They listed all the relevant course changes that the navigator and helmsman had dutifully punched into computers as she had ordered. She studied them again for the upteenth time and leaned back in her command chair.

"Captain, shall I send another request?" The communication officer of the watch asked, his eyes darting between the XO, his console and his Captain.

Gail hummed for a moment before leaning past and tapping a key on the console. "Last transmission was thirty-one minutes ago ma'am."

Leeta grunted something to herself before she turned to face the officers fully. "Yes Lieutenant, send another request, but make it a slightly stronger request then the last two." The Captain replied with a light smile. The comm officer nodded quickly and dropped his head to his console and bringing his hush-mic close as he began to record the message.

Gail crossed over to her perch beside the command dais and amused herself with her own console for a moment. She grunted something as she toyed with something on her displays and Leeta left her to it. The Captain leaned to one side of her chair and studied the master plot again.

System traffic was sparse, understandable after a pirate attack, most ships were still holding orbit either around Hif-An-Asiim or the other platforms dotted lightly about the system. The System Defence Force, such that it was and what there was of it was doing their best to cover those areas. Sadly the SDFs in many parts of the Confederacy were ill-equipped to deal with such pirate attacks, at least those that had cruisers. The SDF here consisted of several frigates and a understrength destroyer squadron, all of which was about one or more generations out of date. The Taiidani Confederacy was quite large as multi-stellar star nations went, consisting of much of the old Empire, meaning that the Taiidani Navy had a lot of ground to cover and though their main battle fleet was considered a first-rate force in general terms, their detachments for system pickets were sadly lacking. An not-quite-official agreement between the Taiidani and the Hiigarans had arose after several years, the Hiigaran Navy would send out regular anti-piracy patrols and keep an eye on the more fringeward systems and the Taiidani would give the Hiigarans practically free run of Taiidani space in terms of military deployment and ship movement.

This was important in the post-Bentusi Galaxy. With the loss of the Exchange Ships and the Great Harbor Ship of Bentus during the Vaygr War, and the subsequent defeat of the Council Fleet sent to stop Maakan before they reached Hiigara, the Galactic Trade Council found itself without the proverbial glue that had barely held it together and as such had fallen apart in a few short generations, with the Vaygr War being the effective nail in the coffin for the quasi-political organisation. Now, deprived of a large interstellar authority to keep the many powers in check, alliances and other pacts had become a necessary thing once again, with the sheer bulk of the Taiidani Confederacy obscuring much of Hiigaran Space from several other, less-than-friendly powers, a joint alliance was in the works but for now, something akin to a mutual defence pact had grown between the Navies of both star nations.

The Akumii for example, had tried, unsuccessfully, to carve a few systems away from the Taiidani a few years ago and Leeta and the Ka-Laggann had been part of the screening element for Command-Admiral Mandala Yii-sun Naabal's Fifth Fleet when they joined the Taiidani 17th Heavy Fleet for the counterattack. Nearly a hundred capital ships, three hundred cruisers and the same number of Destroyers along with several hundred frigates, not to mention the thousands of interceptors and gunships between the two fleets had crashed into the Akumii 2nd Armada in the Sargon Nebula. The Akumii still outnumbered them 2-to-1 in all weight classes save Dreadnoughts, there they outnumbered the Taiidani and Hiigarans with twenty-five to the joint fleet's fifteen. The Joint Fleet had only three things that the Akumii didn't. One, the Hiigaran Mothership Ifriit and the Taiidani Mothership Shir-Al-Omiri, and two, the Hiigaran Flagship and Superdreadnought, Sajuuk, and three, the Sajuuk-Khar, Fleet Command herself, Karan S'Jet.

Leeta remembered hearing her voice, smooth, cool and calming during the battle as Sajuuk arrived from hyperspace. " _All ships, this is Fleet Command."_

Just thinking about it now made Leeta's hair stand on end. The largest engagement since the Vaygr War and even mighty Sajuuk itself had come from it's customary place in Hiigaran orbit to aid in the final stages of the battle, benefit of the far-jump core it could cross the vast distance between those two worlds in a mere couple of days what took the rest of the fleet nearly six weeks to travel via standard hyper generators.

First command of a something bigger than a rear-area Light Cruiser and Leeta had watched as the largest battle in living memory unfold before her and then the greatest living legend and hero to the Kushan shows up with Sajuuk - kind of makes an impression on a person.

"Captain." The communication officer broke into the Captain's thoughts and she turned to face him. "Ma'am, we have received permission to leave orbit, we were withheld while the SDF Admiral composed a message for you ma'am - he apologises for the delay."

Leeta allowed herself a slight smile as she nodded to the officer. "Reply with our own compliments, then signal the squadron to follow on our lead, then have the admiral's message sent to my terminal here." She turned to face the helmsman. "Mister Niida" she addressed the Helmsman of the watch, "take us out."

"Aye aye ma'am" the two replied and with that, the Battlecruiser pulled up and away from the bonds of gravity and thundered silently away from the sleepy world of Hif-An-Asiim.


	4. Chapter 4

_\- Chapter Four -_

" _How many point sources? That's impossible! A bunch of desert world neo-barbs with heavy cruisers - don't be absurd! Ugh… Alert the Admiral, the Exiles are here." Overcaptain Haggan abd'Hal, Taiidani Imperial High Guard prior to the Kushan return to Hiigara._

Hyperspace was a strange place. The best analogy Leeta had heard for it and how it existed was that of a onion. Normal or realspace existed on the outside of that onion, it was also where all life existed and where the laws of physics, thermodynamics and other similar concepts were rather ironclad. The use of a hyper generator, much less the massively more powerful hyper-cores, allowed a ship to peel away the outermost layers of that onion and plunge into what had been described in various poems and other such works as the most beautiful realm of existence, the river of gravity or hell, depending on your viewpoint.

Hyperspace seemed to make a habit of making a mockery of well thought out and mathematically sound scientific principles. For example, the speed of light in a vacuum was often thought of as the galactic speed limit, by its very nature nothing could exceed the speed of light in realspace, but in hyperspace, not so much. Through the alteration of quantum waveform via hyper generator, a ship could create something akin to a tunnel of negative mass and accelerate to beyond the speed of light while within hyperspace. The limitation on this was simply power output and how much negative charge could be built up within the special capacitors of the hyper generator, this was the key difference between a hyper generator and a full blown hyper core. A normal hyper generator had to discharge the negative current, something it can't do whilst in use, however once the ship leaves hyperspace, the negative current, provided it isn't too much can be fed either back into the ship's energy-loop or into the shields or better still into high-orbit of a planet, where even a superdreadnought's maximum charge capacity would be paltry compared to the atmosphere of any habitable planet.

So the secret to faster-than-light travel was manipulation of quantum waveforms, simple enough on the surface until you began to account for gravity. One slight problem of the onion analogy was that gravity from realspace influenced similar phenomena within hyperspace. Gravity had a terrible habit of disrupting waveforms and a sufficiently powerful distortion could knock a ship out of hyperspace and send it back into realspace, the more powerful, the more violent the translation and the more violent, the more likely the ship would be ripped to pieces in the process. This meant most celestial bodies were an obstacle to interstellar travel. Anything smaller then a large moon had too little mass to really effect quantum waveforms, but planets did have enough mass to effect waveforms, though not a great deal, no more than a few light seconds distance and even then a finely tuned hyper generator could navigate within that hyper limit.

Stars were another matter altogether.

One of the first things Leeta had learned when she attended the Kevan Soban Naval Academy was that in galactic terms, the stars top pretty much everything, in terms of sheer mass, size and raw power they were perhaps second only to black holes but they also outnumbered black holes several, several million to one. One star generated so much gravity that of course they could keep systems of planets trapped within them, and the number of planets was theoretically limitless if you counted the Oort clouds they often attracted. This incredible mass meant they also disrupted hyperspace for light months in all directions. However, just a simple disruption isn't enough to throw a ship out of hyper - even very basic hyper generators, even dating back to the times of the Old Bentusi Empire, had the capability to enter into this vast sphere of disruption with little to no issue. The distortion truly became dangerous when you entered into distances measured in light minutes, depending on the star, the bigger the star, the bigger the danger zone. In the very old days and back when hyper generator technology was comparatively primitive, ships would have to exit hyperspace up to a forty light minutes away from the star and make the rest of the journey via sub-light drives, however, modern hyper generators, especially military hyper generators could maintain a stable quantum waveform far deeper into that sphere, sometimes coming to as close as five light minutes from a star, again depending on the stars type. That close to a star was outside any star's life zone, the distance where liquid water could exist on a planet without artificial means or extreme conditions.

Ships equipped with hyper cores, of which only Sajuuk was known to possess such a system, could practically ignore all of these restrictions due to the sheer power of the cores it possessed.

Hyper jumping also had it's place in combat, not only to initiate or escape but also on-the-fly repositioning, jumping from one place to another within the same star system was not unheard of though taxing on both crew and equipment - hyper generators typically worked best when allowed to run for longer periods rather than near split seconds bursts, another restriction hyper cores lacked. This is where Interdictor Gravity Well Generators came into play. Though planets and stars had gravity because of their mass, it was possible to artificially generate gravity, after all, the known universe had enjoyed artificial gravity for untold centuries. The technology had little use in direct, ship-to-ship combat save perhaps in extremely short ranges and even then it was unlikely to have any effect on modern warships. What those generated gravity waves could do was disrupt hyperspace in a localised area, where since relative distance had less meaning in hyperspace, even a short-range gravity wave in realspace could have a far larger reach in hyper. The size of those gravity waves were limited only by how much power could be shunted into the interdictor generator itself and for that reason it rarely, if ever found itself mounted on anything less than a Battlecruiser. Sajuuk, with it's own interdictor and hyper cores could theoretically blanket up to eight light minutes, whereas the Ka-Laggan could only generate at most a few light seconds.

*.*.*.*

It is said that Hiigarans were master shipbuilders, but perhaps it was truer to say that they were simply shipmasters by need of survival. The Exile, the Homeworld War, the Succession Wars, the Beast War and the Vaygr War, each had been on their own way a fight for survival, many of those been fought with Hiigara itself at their backs. Each time however, they had fought, they had won, they had prevailed against odds that should by all rights destroyed the Kushan and Hiigarans several times over. During the Vaygr War, the Hiigaran Navy achieved such a kill-to-loss ratio that aside from some truly horrific battles, the Hiigarans won virtually every engagement, only the sheer numbers forced them to retreat, to withdraw until Hiigara itself was at their backs, and that is where the loss of life was at it's greatest.

As Leeta sat in her day cabin, staring at a mural of the Fifth Battle of Hiigara during the Vaygr War, the final battle, which before Sajuuk arrived to turn the tide, had been considered the darkest hour during the long siege, she knew why the Hiigarans prided themselves on their abilities. It was said, joked, or dreaded depending on who you asked, that Hiigarans could take any ship class and weight, and make a single one of those ships worth three if not four of any other navy. Those who dreaded it praised their gods that the Hiigarans were limited by their population to crew those ships. That was not to say the Hiigarans were invincible, Leeta could recite off the top of her head several battles during each of those wars were the Kushan or Hiigaran Navy had been beaten back or the task forces had been totally destroyed. Even now, occasionally a pirate force would catch a squadron unaware and overwhelm the Hiigaran ships. But in general terms, save the Bentusi, the Hiigarans were considered the greatest navy, ship-for-ship ever put to space in living memory. The Bentusi held the historical title but, Leeta thought sadly, the Bentusi were either a dead race, or the stories that they had fled to other galaxies were true, either way, only an extremely rare number of Trade Exchanges remained, and none of them wanted anything to do with anyone anymore.

The day cabin wall to Leeta's left was configured into external view, fed by the external sensors dotted about the ship, which in turn was traversing through hyperspace. The view was something that could be described as magnificent. Hyperspace was typically devoid of natural light as to Leeta's knowledge, there were no stars in hyperspace. However, once a ship began to manipulate quantum waveforms and begin travelling faster-than-light, that was when the magic happened so to speak.

Typically when approaching the speed of light in realspace, an effect known as blue shifting occurs along with red shifting. These were in regards to visible light and the effect FTL had on those wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum, in hyperspace however where there was no natural visible light, things got a little interesting.

Inside hyperspace, when travelling faster than light, energy waves could act like particles, so when they interacted with the Gellar field, the particle shield that encompassed any ship under power, the energy of hyperspace scattered across it in brilliant waves of light as the energy that simply existed in hyperspace interacted with foreign matter, this combined with the propagation of gravity waves within hyperspace, created spectacular vistas as the resulting interaction 'lit' up the surrounding space in a display of blue, purple and red hues with speckles of yellow and gold sprinkled throughout.

Leeta turned away from what she was looking to gaze at that view. She had seen it many times since she put on the beret, but she had yet to tire of it.

The Ka-Laggann had been in hyperspace for a little over three and half days subjective, roughly four days in real space thanks to relativity near, at or over the speed of light. It would take them a further two days to reach Celan and from there another three weeks to reach Gehenna. It would be the first time the Ka-Laggann in nearly six months subjective would return to Hiigaran space. Gehenna itself was several weeks hyper from Hiigara itself and located within the fringes of the Vaygr Reaches and in turn was the foremost station for the Hiigaran Navy, but it's position in the galaxy gave it excellent coverage of Hiigara's eastern flank, the Taiidan Confederacy, and all the star nations around the area.

Leeta sat cross-legged on her day cabin's nicely carpeted deck sole in a nice quiet corner of said cabin. Though she herself wasn't the most religious woman in the history of the Kushan. _And even they considered much of this redundant_ she mused idly as she made the motions, cupping her hands by her stomach and raising them up to cover her face. _They believed life on Kharak was Sajuuk's will, or punishment if the Gaalsiens were to be believed. They believed that simply living was enough._ She brought her head near her cupped hands for a moment, covering her eyes and parting her hands at the palms ever so slightly. _Though Gaalsien and Siidim did have a slight disagreement about that,_ which resulted in the Heresy Wars.

" _Sajuuk_ bless these hulls in your name" she whispered, almost so quietly that she barely heard it, as all prayers to Sajuuk were in the Narnii Sect of the Kushani Religion. "And bless these souls within who carry your name in their hearts." She continued as she raised her head and raised her hands a little higher and forward, as if offering them to the bulkhead that showed the wonder of hyperspace.

 _Sajuuk_ , the Great Maker, He Whose Hands Shapes What Is. He was a fickle god in the Hiigaran religion, there were a multitude of lesser deities but _Sajuuk_ was the head of them. He was the deity of pretty much everything important to the Kushan and latter the Hiigarans. Shipbuilding being a rather major one in the modern age, and the prayer Leeta had whispered was a common one amongst the Navy and practically a chant among some of the ratings during a crisis.

To say the general populace of Hiigara worshipped _Sajuuk_ was a bit of an understatement, after all, Karan S'Jet was the Sajuuk-Khar, the Chosen of _Sajuuk_ in common tongue, that and they had named their largest and most powerful Superdreadnought Sajuuk, though where it had come from was still a bit of a mystery. Legend says it simply appeared during the end of the Vaygr War, but no one would say where it had been constructed. It was one of those mysteries that never got answered in anything like definite terms. All that was known was that the Pride of Hiigara, Karan's Task Force's Mothership during the Vaygr War was lost just before records showed that Karan and Command-Admiral Ryan S'Jet transferred their flags to Sajuuk just in time to jump into the final battle had always struck Leeta as a little odd, but it was also sixty years ago and no one seemed to question it too deeply - supposedly a lot of strange stuff had happened to Karan's Task Force, or to give it it's proper name, Task Force 9 of the 5th Fleet, during the Vaygr War and their independant detachment for rear area operations against the Vaygr.

Since the Vaygr War, Task Force 5.9 had expanded around Sajuuk until they constituted a fleet unto itself, at which point they had been redesignated as Home Fleet, and with very, very few exceptions, Sajuuk and Home Fleet had remained within short-jump distance of Hiigara, only ever travelling as far as Kaitan, Hiigara's nearest daughter colony.

"Praise the Great Maker and his Works." Leeta whispered as she repeated the gesture of supplication. "Praise His coming and his going. May His passage cleanse the world. May He keep the world for His people." She repeated as she had been taught by her by the Priests back on Hiigara many years ago, when she was just a little girl.

Leeta repeated the gesture once again in silence as she had been taught before standing in short order. Her daily prayers completed early she moved from the corner of her room toward her sleeping cabin and in turn her washroom. She pulled the wrinkled shirt she slept in off and left it in the basket left out by the steward and went to clean up for the morning rounds.

An hour had passed and Leeta was sat in her day cabin's dining compartment with the remains of breakfast laid out before her. Her XO and Chief Engineer were also present as they usually were.

"Well." Gail said as she dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin. "I don't see how it's our problem." She commented and looked up towards Mara who was sat opposite. "If Kiith Paktu goes through with this insane relocation of theirs, it's not like we can stop them."

"It _will_ be our problem, the Paktu-ka is a growing voice of dissent within the daiamid, he feels like his Kiith are being overshadowed in the daiamid, and I think they are. Kiith Naabal, S'Jet, LiirHra and even my own Somtaaw have added more delegates to the Council in the past year than Paktu have in the last generation - their voting block is slowly being swept away."

Gail grunted as the Chief Engineer finished. "As true as that might be, Rannii Paktu-sa and her vassal families won't simply leave Hiigara for the colonies, as much as he would like to think he runs Kiith Paktu, Jannu Paktu is the Paktu-ka, the second, he can't issue such a decree, hence it's not a problem." Gail returned.

The Engineer wagged a finger at the senior officer. "If, by some moment of madness on _Sajuuk's_ part he does though, it _would_ impact the Navy, hard."

Gail nodded at this, that was true afterall. "If Paktu-ka pulls this off, then yes, all Kiith Paktu would be, by oath, required to follow the decree or else be subject to oath-breaking, which I can't see the Paktu doing, their vassals are as loyal as any one S'Jet I'd like to name." She answered with a glance to the Captain who for the most part was staying out of the political debate.

The political system on Hiigara was based around a combination of family connections and territories settled by each family-nation - the head of the Kiith formed the Daiamid however the number of delegates they could send to the Daiamid was dependent on the the number of territories they had fair representation within. The point of this was to spread the families out so a single attack couldn't wipe out the entire Hiigaran people, this had the side effect of meaning that the few colonies Hiigara possessed were highly influential in the Daiamid due to the typically high percentage of one Kiith or another in the various regions on those colonies, where as Hiigara was a thoroughly mixed population, Kiith Naabal living among Kiith LiirHra, or Paktu living among mixed neighbourhoods and so on. This meant that no Kiith could really claim overwhelming majority and the political process was one built on compromise, which suited most Kiith just fine, except it seems Kiith Paktu.

"Personnel… difficulty aside for a moment." Mara continued after a moment. "Where would they go? Colonisation efforts are directed from the Daiamid Security Council, and all current colonies are already settled by the other Kiiths and are under strict settlement control. I somehow doubt the Daiamid will simply let them pick a new planet at random and even so, without several generations of terraforming, they won't be able to settle enough areas to recover the seats they would lose if they uproot their vassal families."

Gail snorted in return. "You know Paktu, once one of them 'smells the sea' they'll go off half-cocked and then the Navy will have to step in and save all their dumb asses on some uninhabitable world 'that looked so nice from orbit'" Gail said in a mocking tone and a glance to the Captain for the less than proper language.

Leeta raised an eyebrow to her XO but otherwise let the wording pass as she sipped her tea. Despite her subordinates eagerness to launch into political debate, Leeta herself had entered into them a time or two before, now she wore the beret of a ship's master she had heard an echo from her snotty days, Captain Ibrahim Gelii S'Jet of the Mothership Kapisi once told a very, very young officer when she had a falling out with her fellow midis' over some political hot topic or another, that one day she might find herself wearing the white beret, and that a Captain of a Hiigaran was an apolitical creature, the only politics they concerned themselves was the going-ons of their ship and that should be it. Advice from a man who later became an influential liberal pundit on the HD after leaving the service but good advice nonetheless.

So for that reason Leeta remained a glorified referee during the debates of her senior officers, she had been known to clear her throat when one of them had been going for a little too long or if they got a little too personal but otherwise, since her time as a Destroyer skipper, Leeta had earned a reputation of keeping her mouth shut when the 'P' word was floating around. She'd lost a few friends before then, and maybe since when she didn't leap to their aid during a debate but Leeta thought she was better for it in the end.

"I don't think Paktu will be that rash." Mara said as she accepted a fresh cup of coffee from Keenan. "There is a list of garden worlds all ripe for the taking in the near-systems."

"Ah ah." Gail laughed, "Trust me, there is a difference between a 'garden world' and a habitable world." The former marine chuckled a little more as she sipped her own coffee.

Mara made a throwing away gesture with one hand and nodded acknowledgement of the difference in definition. "Okay, point is…"

"Point is Mara that it's about time we showed our faces to the crew, just so they know we still exist." Leeta interrupted with a light smile to the older woman. "I'm sure that whatever they choose, Kiith Paktu won't do it before we arrive at Gehenna at least."

"Or before we return to Hiigara." Gail added as she stood. The Commander nodded and thanked the steward as he appeared to clean up after the officers, a gesture followed by the Lieutenant Commander after her superior.

"Gail." Leeta looked to her XO. "I'll be here, I have a small nebula of reports to get through before we reach Gehenna, but I'll be about soon enough I hope."

"Of course." The XO returned with a nod before scooping up her uniform tunic and departing the cabin, the Lieutenant Commander in tow after she made her own goodbyes.

The Captain of the Ka-Laggann watched them go before turning to Keenan as he scooped up the last few plates with silent proficiency. "Thank you Keenan, excellent as usual." She smiled to the Chief Steward.

The steward nodded graciously as he had for the previous compliments. "Well ma'am, I'll have to make an average breakfast once in awhile, just so my usual standard is… special again." He returned the warm smile before nodding again and retreating to his pantry.

Like the others Leeta watched him go, her smile still fixed for a moment as she turned towards the hatch that led to the main cabin and the aforementioned reports.

*.*.*.*

"Missile launch - count, what?!" The sensor tech blurted out through the din of low-level chaos, thankfully she recovered quickly and continued her report. "Missile count two-hundred and thirty, time to contact, five hundred and thirty one seconds."

Liara Somtaaw sat at her station, hands flying across the keyboard as her threat boards lit up, the Lieutenant Senior Grade beside her, LtSG Kyle Naabal was manning the missile defence station and was already drawing up counter-missile solutions before she said anything.

The incoming crimson red light points would slash into the outer interception zone in a little under four minutes at their current acceleration which almost took Liara back for a moment but she pushed the thought aside. _That was a heavy missile launch, too heavy! How many tubes have they got? And how far out?_ Sajuuk! Liara was shocked in the privacy of her own mind, but like the other thought she shoved it aside for later.

The 147th Squadron had linked their missile defences to the command ship, severely beefing up her ability to fight off such a massive attack wave from only two enemy battlecruisers and their destroyer squadron.

Vaygr, each and every one of them.

For the two hundred and thirty missiles the Vaygr had launched at the squadron between their ten ships, the 147th fired back with a hundred and sixty-five missiles of their own. The Battlecruiser rumbled as her missile tubes emptied, spitting out ninety-two missiles from her combined chase armament and the 84 off-bore broadside tubes she mounted, 42 to each side. The forward direct-fire weaponry was woefully out of range, or more correctly, unable to get a hard target track with this much distance between them and the enemy thanks to the haze of ECM and sheer astrological distance. At a little over eight and a half million kilometres it would take the Hiigaran missiles a similar amount of time to reach the incoming Vaygr though the two ships would be almost four million kilometres closer thanks to their mutual acceleration.

At the sheer distances involved with the relative power of the ECM at those ranges, getting anything short of a hazy target without an all-encompassing shell of recon-drones in place was near-impossible. Missiles fired at such long ranges were, after a few light seconds began to rely on their onboard counter-ECM and target tracking capabilities to find their targets. The longer the range, the lower the accuracy as the information from the launching ship became more and more out of date meaning there was a greater and greater volume of space for the missile's far less capable tracking systems to find their marks.

Liara worked her contacts as best she could, scrubbing away the outer layers of the Vaygr ECM but sadly to little avail, what she did remove didn't uncover them enough to raise her missiles accuracy efficiency to be sure of a kill at this range. To get a reliable kill at this range would require missile throw weight not seen outside either Battleships, Missile Cruisers or all-up Dreadnoughts.

But still she tried, because she had to try. CIC had identified ten hostile signatures, two of which had the apparent mass, judging by their quantum waveform of Battlecruisers and the other eight had the apparent mass of Destroyers. Combined they outnumbered, but not outgunned the smaller Hiigaran squadron. The Heavy and Light Cruisers of the 147th made up for the Vaygr's destroyers handily, however there was something to be said for having sheer numbers on the board.

"Contact" A sensor tech called out, "distance six point three million kilometres, bearing 320, mark zero zero five coming in at high acceleration - CIC calls it a recon drone, designate HD-1."

A blip appeared on the main tactical display. Liara stole a glance at it as she reworked her fire plans to include a counter-drone segment - if she allowed the Vaygr to get sensor platforms close to her ships, then the next wave of missiles would know almost exactly where to look.

"Yanna." Liara called without looking to one of her fellow officers. "Re-org our RDs, see if you can't find any more incoming probes." She didn't listen for the answer, she knew that the Lieutenant Commander was good enough to leap on it - she liked that about her team, she didn't feel the need to really overwatch anyone, at least on her first line combat team - not that any of them knew who was on that list beside the LtC. "Kyle, how's it looking?" She asked again without looking to the man beside her as she put the finishing flourishes on next wave of attack missiles.

"Launch in a few seconds - standard profiles locked." The husky voice answered her and she grunted something like an acknowledgment.

A few seconds later the ship shivered as the counter-missiles flew out to meet the oncoming horde of hostile missiles. Compared to the full bore of the linear catapults used to accelerate the attack missiles out and up to something resembling interstellar speeds, the counter-missiles felt so gentle and yet so reassuring, reassuring that something was going to try and stop the many, many warheads as they came to try and kill them all.

The four minutes ached past as the wall of missiles closed on each other, the attack birds heading into the ships, and the counter-missiles speeding to stop them.

The outer interception zone was a little less than 3 million kilometres thanks to the long ranges involved. The hundreds of Vaygr Missiles flew straight into the CMs. Scores of missiles blew apart, some taken out by their sisters when they went for the same target, or the on-board computers of the attack missiles managed to execute a sharp evasion maneuvers and dodge the proverbial bullet that was coming for them, either way, once all the explosions had cleared, the outer engagement zone had stopped eighty one out of the two hundred and thirty.

Now one hundred and forty nine missiles, still accelerating swung into the intermediary interception zone and the second launch of counter-missiles. The second launch was the least effective launch for many reasons, for one, they didn't have the long look time the first launch had on their way in, and because the third launch rippled out of the 147th soon after them, the ships didn't have the fire control links for them, the third launch and the attack birds all at the same time.

But off they went anyway with what they had and they would do their best. Another cacophony of silent destruction rippled like a great band just ahead of the squadron as over a hundred counter missiles, half-blind by the short lock time and half-lamed by the lack of direct links to their ship's sensors and tactical computers, came face to face with the first wave of serious penetration aids launched by the Vaygr. Suddenly where there was nearly one hundred and fifty missiles, suddenly another three hundred false images sprang to life and try as they might to the contrary, many of the counter missiles died chasing those sirens.

The second CM launch stopped a grand total of forty-one enemy missiles. LtSG bit back a curse as he saw just how ineffective nearly a hundred and sixty counter missiles were against those new Vaygr penetration aids.

The close interception zone, the final organised CM launch before everything got a little too close to near-relativistic speeds for human minds to keep up. Another hundred and sixty counter-missiles against a hundred and eight hostile missiles and those new pen-aids.

Kyle Naabal wasn't ashamed to say that he felt his jaw grind down as he watched the light points collide.

Again the pen-aids flared to life, either blinding his CMs or leading them astray with sultry songs but this time Kyle could do something about it. At 900,000 kilometres, it took a hair over 3 seconds for his whisker-lasers to hit his CMs with updates from his tactical computer, a computer fed by FTL grav-sensors. Despite the communication lag, Kyle managed to shepherd many of his CMs away from the more obvious decoys and hopefully close enough for the on-board seekers.

This time the ripple of detonations was thicker with positive kills. The on-board ECM did their nefarious work and wormed their brothers through the defense screen of the CMs, but nowhere near as many as they hoped.

Still, out of the 108 enemy missiles that engaged the CMs in the shortest engagement window thanks to their acceleration, sixty five were destroyed and the forty three survivors came screaming in on the 147th.

Across the cruisers, point-defence clusters loosed bolts of coherent light at the attackers and with an entire squadrons worth of clusters the survivors of the counter-missiles were blotted from space in short order.

No one on the tactical side said anything and Kyle kept his nose to his screens because while he was fending off that wave, the Vaygr had launched another, equally large salvo this time however it seemed to be concentrated on the Ka-Laggann. The two squadrons had also closed nearly 2 million kilometres while they spat missiles at each other and now Kyle had far less time to work out defence profiles against that barrage he had to stop with point-defences with comparatively all the time in the world.

Liara however only paid Kyle's situation an instant thought as she kept her mind on her own console which showed the hundred and sixty five missiles of the 147th as they speared towards the blood red icons on her tactical plot.

The Vaygr launched their own counter-wave of course and damned if they weren't quick. The Hiigaran KV-34 Anti-Starship Missile was, compared to the Vaygr weapons, a work of art and fine engineering with on-board seekers and maneuverability that made their counterparts seem at times like a brick in space, however it was still practically blind and dumb compared to the nippy speed of any competent navy's counter-missiles hence why penetration aids were needed.

While the Vaygr opted for a brute-force approach in terms of salvo density and battering their way through the interception zones, the KV-34s and the 34bs seeded among them relied more on their electronic witchery to defeat their enemies.

The first 34bs lit off their warheads far short of the enemy ships and fired the miniature-warheads into the faces of the oncoming CM wave.

ECM platforms and threat-enhancers went online and the first Vaygr CM wave broke apart.

On one hand, the ECM brought the fog of war point blank with the seekers of the CMs. As they were suddenly blinded, the siren scream-songs of the threat-enhancers called out to them through that fog. CMs by the dozen vectored in on those pyre lights in the dark.

The counter missiles made a good showing of themselves, but they only knocked out twenty three of the Hiigarans missiles thanks to their advanced pen-aids. The first wave of penetration aids now spent, the second wave prepared to flash into action as the hundred and twenty missiles closed the distance.

The next hail of CMs came in hard and fast, wiping away another twenty nine attack missiles along with the howling ECM and decoys and the last ninety attack birds faced the final and largest barrage of CMs.

Almost a quarter of the surviving missiles were ECM platforms, kept in reserve for the final stretch. Of that quarter, half now opened up, blanketing the interception zone in the thick haze of interference. More detonations lit up space, more missiles were blasted from existence by suicide attacks of the smaller defenders.

Forty attack birds survived through the final interception zone to face the hail of laser bolts. It was here that the last ECM and decoys activated and the several of the point defence lasers wasted themselves shooting ghosts.

The missiles closed for the terminal attack maneuvers, spinning and contorting to avoid laser fire as they prepared to fire their warheads into the hostile battlecruisers. Liara had opted to concentrate fire on the two heaviest opponents and a pair of Vaygr Battlecruisers, with their spinal mount 'Trinity' cannons, were considered very dangerous enemies.

The Hiigaran cruiser-launched KV-34 Anti-starship missiles were slightly larger than their Vaygr cousins and mounted seven independent and marginally larger warheads.

The first brace of missiles that came within range of Bogey-BC1 fired their warheads in unison and scores of smaller missiles speared in, hungry for their target.

The Vaygr shields were effective equal to anything Hiigara had put to space since the war. A spin off of Defence Field technology from the Vaygr War itself, which in turn had become something of a game changer in galactic warfare.

The shield arrays of the enemy battlecruiser's port took the sudden barrage of hits well, miniature stars of nuclear energy flashed into existence for an instant but they held against the first barrage. The second barrage however slashed through the tears that appeared in the once heavy defensive wall.

Last ditch fire from the point defences and ship's own ECM screamed as the nuclear weapons crossed the last few kilometres, a few were lost to laser fire but the warheads were blind to anything but the big, massive target in front of them and they drove on regardless.

The enemy battlecruiser shook and twisted as lances of nuclear fire blew into her flank. Missile tubes, energy mounts, shield arrays and hundreds of tons of armour plating was wiped away and the outer most hulls were ripped open to space.

The spaceborne engine of war shuddered and staggered as the third and final barrage aimed at it slammed home, it bucked and it's gashes grew thick and long down its flank. But, despite the horrific damage and loss of personnel, the battlecruiser rolled with the hits and continued going full bore towards the six ships that had inflicted those wounds. Even as she powered on, atmosphere bled from her in torrents as her damage control crews raced to plug the wounds, her acceleration dropped slightly and her missile barrages became sparse and thin compared to their first massive salvo.

Bogey-BC2 was slightly luckier, the warheads came slashing down into the far more defended prow where it's heavier shield arrays withstood the barrage much better. Many warheads got through but against the prow point defence guns, many were blotted from space in those last ditch efforts.

The prow lit up in multiple nuclear detonations, again ripping away sensors mounts, direct-fire weapons including one of the spinal cannons, and great slashes of armour and people but like her sister ship she pressed on regardless.

*.*.*.*

Liara was thrown around in her seat as the Vaygr second missile wave slammed home, greatly diminished but still enough to give her a moment of concern as the damage alert siren wailed and the tactical display became littered with damage codes.

She spared them a second's glance before she stared at the reports from her own recon platforms as they began to settle in position and relay their sensors via the FTL communications links. Liara had a mental and short lived flare of accomplishment as she saw the list of estimated damages to the B-BC1 and BC2, but even as she thought that, the Ka-Laggann was thrown as a fresh pair of multi-kiloton nukes detonated far too close for comfort.

Starship armour was made up of buffer plates, armour plates of both structural and ablative styles along with multiple internals hulls and thick bulkheads to minimise combat damage, this combined with internal integrity grav-fields made most modern warships far hardier than they may appear on the surface, it was this improvement that allowed far smaller ships to survive in environments where weapons of vast destruction got thrown around like so much confetti.

Another wave of shock, another hundred tons of armour splintered and blown clear from the Battlecruiser. Then the rumble and shiver as more attack missiles and counter missiles zipped out to either repay the favour or to try and stop the next one. The point defence clusters were on auto-target and rapid fire, in fact several of the damage codes where from those clusters, they were starting to overheat and their gravitic-lenses would start deforming if they kept up this rate of fire - but Kyle dared not slow them down, the range had fallen to 5 million kilometres and now the space between the two combatant squadrons was rich both in ECM but also in debris from the heavy missile exchanges.

In the crossfire the Hiigarans had managed to score at least a disable on one of the destroyers - which now listed aimlessly, all acceleration gone and venting atmosphere badly. The missile throw from both sides had also dissipated, the Hiigaran was throwing out salvos of roughly a hundred and twelve and the Vaygr matched them with a hundred and thirty as more and more of each sides launchers, magazines and sensors were blotted away as they closed.

Liara slapped a function key and the rumble ran through the bridge once again as another brace of missiles sallied forth, this time their target was two of the destroyers, both had already been hit a few times each and were already stumbling.

*.*.*.*

The destroyers rolled and weaved as the daggers of nuclear fire came in on them, their point defence wailed and screamed defiant bolts against the daggers but by now the Hiigaran fire control had collected enough data about the Vaygr missile defence to begin to factor in such things as targeting and reload times.

The first destroyer shook violently as one of those daggers blew clean through her, a stab of white-hot fury that obliterated her heart. Her primary reactor and engineering spaces were hit and vaporised as hull plating failed. The destruction of those spaces and the failure of those bulkheads meant that the nuclear fire raced down into the core of the ship, vaporizing compartment after compartment until it reached her ammunition bunkers and fuel reservoir. Thankfully nuclear warheads can't be detonated by proximity but helium-3 however can, at least by nuclear-hot flames.

The resulting cook off was stopped by the blow-out systems but it was too late - the Vaygr destroyer died as a secondary chain reaction tore through to CIC blew a hole through into her bridge - her entire command crew was either dead or incapacitated in less than two seconds.

The other destroyer fared just as well. The barrage of nuclear weapons opened up the starboard flank and savaged her weapon magazines and ammunition bunkers, which on the smaller destroyer were no where near as well protected as they were on a capital ship. While the second destroyer was alive, it would take no further part in the battle.

The ships were close, now the distance was little more than 2 million kilometres, a little over 6 light seconds. It was at this distance that all-up capital ships, Battleships, Dreadnoughts and the such would begin to trade their heaviest blows from their main guns, guns the smaller battlecruisers lacked though soon even they would be almost into the proverbial 'knife-fight' range of a few light seconds.

Both sides' Electronic Counter Measures, overseen by their respective Electronic Warfare Officers were dueling furiously trying to be both shield and sword against each other, defending the ships in one moment but trying to peek through the veil the next. The Hiigarans had the advantage that they had for the most part defeated the majority of the Vaygr ECM by their RDs being so close and able to slip through the defensive envelope.

As the distance clicked down to five light seconds, Liara stabbed another function key.

The foremost cannons, the heavy laser cannons of the Ka-Laggann sang out, again silently and invisibly against the infinite blackness of space. The quad beams of high energy blasts slammed into the heavy, reinforced prow shields of Bogey-BC1, followed swiftly by a second set of blasts which caused the shields to stumble if only for an instant.

The Vaygr returned fire, their spinal mount cannons still angling for a shot as their turreted compatriots let loose with spears of anger of their own. Thankfully their targeting solutions were less clear than the Hiigaran's own, the return shots either grazed the shields or missed the squadron something both difficult and easy when the the six ships of the 147th maintained a standard separation of nearly fifty-thousand kilometres, which in interstellar terms was extremely close comparatively.

The Heavy Cruiser's opened up with their forward ion cannons on Bogey-BC2. Four bolts of blue-white lightning arced across the cold void into the teeth of the enemy. Shields flickered and surged but they held under the attack.

Another brace of lasers flashed from the Ka-Laggann and the Light Cruisers towards the lead enemy Battlecruiser while Shiinra and Tiir'La engaged the second BC, the destroyers were tertiary targets at this moment in time.

Ion Cannons flared from the bow-turret of Ka-Laggann combined with her gauss cannons towards Bogey-BC1.

The Light Cruisers launched another salvo of missiles as they rolled to bring their heavier broadside mounts to bear on the battlecruiser.

The missile duel started again as the Ka-Laggann's energy weapons struck home. The shields flared and spluttered under the constant torture before finally flickering out as one array went offline and another cycled in, it only took a fraction of a second but in that fraction, a pair of very heavy electromagnetically accelerated slugs travelling several thousand kilometres per second sped through the gap between shield cycles.

The gauss projectiles smashed into the reinforced bow armour, their sheer kinetic energy ploughed through the armour plating as if it was little more than a nuisance. The space-age cannonballs dug gouges into the armour and the spaces behind it. The kinetic weapons came to rest several dozen metres inside the bow, the massive heavy balls of 'Ice-Gold' came to rest inside the alloy armour for only a half-second before their secondary component sparked into life. Buried deep within the massive chunks of alloy, the pair of rods of Ice-Gold contained a single use electromagnetic pulse, or EMP.

The pulse lasted less than a third of a second in which time they fried almost fifty metres of unprotected electrical systems.

Against a Military warship, such a localised EMP was of limited effectiveness, most critical systems were shielded against such attacks and through the widespread use of molecular-circuitry, most 'fried' systems could recover in a short time but there was still widespread disruption of the small items carried by the crews and that could mean a lot in combat. Against civilian craft however the EMP could be far more devastating thanks to a lack of those same protective measures. The EMP also allowed the kinetic weapons to carry another heavy punch against any ship's shields along with their pure kinetic power.

The next wave of energy bolts blasted into the reformed shields which rode through the attack well enough and again the Vaygr responded.

Another destroyer died as again it was overwhelmed by nuclear fire but not before flushing it's entire complement of missiles in the direction of the three Light Cruisers.

Anti-missile defences went to overdrive as the missiles screamed in over the short range and they managed to knock out most of the limited number of attacker but combined with all the missiles already in play, the CMs and point defence couldn't catch them all.

The Light Cruiser Gethsemane bucked and thrashed as the warheads detonated about her, sending waves of pressure and radiation blasting into her. Armour plating was ripped away and weapon mounts vanished under the attack to say nothing of the crewmen aboard her who were vaporised by the raging nuclear fire. Gethsemane clung to life, barely. The vast majority of her weapon mounts now fell silent as they were blotted away or either the crews for those weapons or the ammunition magazines ceased to exist.

The Light Cruiser rolled to present it's least damaged side to the enemy and began to tuck itself under the Battlecruiser in a desperate effort to survive the holocaust about her.

In return Liara tasked the batteries not currently engaging the hostile Battlecruiser to target the Destroyers about them.

Now spears of blue-white Ion bolts crashed into those same destroyers as the range dropped to no more than 420,000 thousand kilometres - now the combatants were well within 'knife-fight' range.

Things got worse for the Hiigarans shortly after that as the spinal mount cannons of the two BCs came to bear against the Ka-Laggann.

*.*.*.*

Liara was almost thrown from her chair if not for the shock-frame as the stupendously power of those cannons hammered home into the bow of the Ka-Laggann - thankfully they'd known it was coming and prepared by concentrating shield power to try and stop the incoming torrent of destruction.

She bit back a loud curse as the next bolt hit and her head whipped back. She tasted blood, she must have bitten the inside of her mouth.

Liara glared daggers at the two crimson light point on her tactical display. Both enemy Battlecruisers were little more than one light second distant and they were simply pouring fire down on her little place in space. Lasers, Ion bolts, and Gauss fire rained down on the single ship.

Despite the terrible damage those weapons could inflict. The ability of a modern, all-up warship to resist such damage and survive wasn't something to be underestimated, in fact the Ka-Laggann could be pounded to near-scrap in theory and still be able to fight. The nuclear missiles, for all their destructive ability would be hard pressed to score a kill on anything bigger than a Destroyer without something either a prolonged attack or something catastrophic and incredibly unlucky happening aboard said ship to speed up the progress. A Battlecruiser could withstand truly obscene levels of damage for her weight-class, she could be half-gutted and practically a ghost ship and still continue the fight if needed so she could bear the bombardment of the enemy BCs, at least in the short-term and while the shields remained intact to negate much of the fire coming at her.

The Ka-Laggann gave almost as good as she got. She swung her bow up and loosed every weapon she had in the face of Bogey-BC1. Gauss rods cut again and again into the hull of the hostile battlecruiser while Ion bolts tore open the shields and a torrent of lasers of her own poured through the gap.

Armour splintered and buckled under the assault in return. The Ka-Laggann combined with her compatriot Light Cruisers poured the fire on thick, the few missiles thrown into the mix hammered the Vaygr BCs flanks and Liara snarled for an instant as the port side of that BC erupted in a sheet of flame, they just cracked one of her main energy runs for those damned-spinal cannons.

Her primal reaction was short lived, both by training and the sudden, fresh wail of damage alarms as the forward Laser Cannons ceased responding and the two of the chase-missile tubes did the same as the aforementioned, damned-spinal cannons blotted them away. More bolts smashed into the already hammered hull of the Ka-Laggann and Liara felt another harsh rumble go though her before the internal pressure alarm started to scream inside her sealed helmet.

Instinctively she checked the readouts of her vac-suit, she was fine. A glance to the compartment readouts however showed the damage. A hairline fracture had cut as deep as the bridge and now it was venting into the already-depressurised compartments that surrounded them. Thankfully the Navy drilled into its first-year recruits that as soon as the first weapons barked in combat - vac-suits were sealed and so none of Liara's team had to worry - in fact most noted the new environmental change with little fanfare before turning back to their stations.

Bogey-BC2 wasn't faring much better under the tender care of Shiinra and Tiir'La. The two Kaitan cruisers unleashed a punishing barrage from their ion cannons and laser batteries into the enemy warships, followed by their own missiles into the destroyers to keep them to busy defending to really return fire with any alacrity.

The ion beams slammed again and again into the port flank of Bogey-BC2, the shield arrays struggled to reform as the hostile battlecruiser fought off attacks from the Heavy Cruisers and the Ka-Laggann. The Tiir'La hammered lasers into that exposed flank as fast as she could.

Hull plating blew apart under the tortuous barrage. Missile tubes and broadside cannons shattered as the invisible bolts of energy crashed home.

The wounds increased as Shiinra rolled to present her remaining gauss broadside cannons and let hell thunder out as each of the two twin-cannons went to rapid-fire.

Fire erupted from the battlecruiser as the Ice-Gold rained down on her. The sheer kinetic force punched through interior bulkheads and high-energy lasers followed them in, incinerating compartments and vaporising crew with each passing minute.

Eventually BC2 gave up it's relentless barrage of the Ka-Laggann, now the Heavy Cruisers were far too great a threat to ignore, the Destroyers had been held at bay for far too long.

Those two remaining spinal mount weapons now found themselves training on the Shiinra.

The Heavy Cruiser shunted all the power she could find to the forward emitters as the massive wave front of lasers blasted towards her. The arrays screamed as those massive bolts hit home, the range now so close that ECM did little more than blur about the edges of the returns of a battlecruiser's main sensors, even with many of their arrays destroyed or damaged, the few they still had and the few recon platforms still in play burned through the ECM and stealth systems with contemptuous ease at this paltry range.

The reverse was also true, the Tiir'La, free from the heavy bombardment was able to push through the relatively lighter fire to power out of BC2 bow arc to continue the attack on the atmosphere-bleeding flank.

*.*.*.*

The Ka-Laggann, now able to breath a little thanks to Shiinra pulling some of the pressure of her, was able to reform her shields. Her weapon mounts were thinned slightly but the Escarii class had a lot more bite left.

Her Ion Cannons and Gauss Cannons went to rapid fire along with every other turreted weapon Liara could bring to bear. It took less than a second for the energy weapons to cross the distance and a little over two seconds for the kinetic warheads to follow. Any delay was not noted by BC1.

The repeated hits on the heavily armoured prow had left it less than totally effective - so when this fresh wave of destruction hit it, it failed utterly. The armour blew apart as the strain became too much. The last shield arrays were wiped away and the protective bubble dissipated, opening the way for the howling fury of the Hiigarans.

Lasers and gauss rods ripped deep into the inner hull of the Vaygr Battlecruiser, shattering bulkheads, superstructure and frames as they went. The sheer explosive force combined with the complete devastation of the skeletal chassis that held the ship together practically blew the bow out, peeling it back on itself as the Ka-Laggann kept on mercilessly killing with each passing instant.

The rain of hell came to an end only when the main reactors of BC1 were penetrated and they lost containment. Antimatter Reactors are not something you want to lose control off.

A flash akin to the birth of a star magnitudes greater than the firecrackers that were the nuclear missiles lit up space as the mighty Vaygr Battlecruiser died. Great and brilliant in it's moment of life, it ended just as quickly leaving behind nothing as the reactors dumped their reserves of antimatter into a pretty matter-heavy environment.

One of the surviving destroyers was caught in the explosion's radiation wave with their shields and particle shielding at less than optimum thanks to the constant barrage of missiles from the Light Cruisers Siigaan and Ka-Katii. The wave of gamma radiation swept into the smaller vessel at such intensity at such a short range that her crew had little chance to survive - the sheer amount of radiation blasted apart the protective layers of the vac-suits of those close to the skin of the hull. Those further within, in the heavily armoured compartments such as the bridge and engineering survived but the gamma wave combined with the rest of the intense radiation caused virtually all of the destroyer's systems to go into overload and shutdown - this included the shields and hull integrity systems.

The Destroyer went the same way as it squadron-mate shortly afterwards as the next barrage of missiles found her suddenly without shields, counter-missiles, point defence and ECM. Death was pretty much instantaneous after that.

BC2, now suddenly outnumbered, found itself under heavy assault from three angles.

To the bow, the Shiinra, now bearing more than her fair share of battle scars doggedly persisted in her continued existence. To port, the Tiir'La had gotten her hooks in and was now hitting BC2 with anything she had. To Starboard, the Hiigaran Battlecruiser now focused her attention solely on BC2.

The Vaygr fought on hard and desperately. Every surviving weapon barked and belched fire as she died, her hulls torn away and her innards vaporised by unrelenting fire from the Hiigaran squadron.

In her death rattle, BC2's hole-ridden hulk convulsed and blew apart, spreading debris and life-pods as the Hiigarans turned to finish off the damaged destroyers.

*.*.*.*

The Vaygr squadron was dead within three hours of engaging the Hiigarans, ten ships against six. Not to say they went down without a fight. The 147th Anti-Piracy Squadron was smashed. Her Command Ship was shot full of holes and much of her chase armament was gone, not to mention the sensor arrays, the radar and lidar arrays, the armour, the communication equipment and the losses to the ship's company.

The others didn't do to well either. The Shiinra, after suffering under the spinal cannons had taken great losses of her own, including virtually all of her chase armament and a devastating loss among her crew as the bridge had been destroyed in the barrage by a chain reaction. The Tiir'La had gotten off better but not by much - great swathes of her broadsides had simply been ripped away and her own bow was pockmarked severely after the long skirmish.

The Light Cruiser got off most lightly save Gethsemane, which had suffered numerous additional hits after it's withdraw from the main battle line, culminating in the ship being abandoned and scuttled after it's reactor suffered a coolant leak.

The 147th was for all intents and purposes, non-functional - they would barely be able to limp back to Hiigara.

Lieutenant Commander Liara Somtaaw looked at the casualty list as it scrolled past her console with an ashen face before the list stopped at a trio of names.

'Naabal, Yanna Il-han, LtCmdr - Deceased'

'Somtaaw, Liara Jo-run, LtCmdr - Deceased'

'Naabal, Leeta Yii-Lal, Capt - Deceased'

"Huh, so we're dead." Yanna said as she looked over the Tac-officer's shoulder as the screen blinked 'SIMULATION OVER'

"Cool" the dead blonde officer added as she patted her also dead-friend on the shoulder. "That means you buy the first round I think."

*.*.*.*

A Battlecruiser was a large ship, at least compared to the Cruisers and Destroyers Leeta had commanded before, and positively cramped compared to stint aboard the Dreadnought Fiirin She. But Captain Leeta had grown comfy with her ship as she stepped through the hatch that led into the command compartments, namely the bridge was located ahead of her down a few more corridors, located centre-forward of the ship, the secondary command deck was located centre aft of the ship, the Combat Information Centre was off to the port side on this deck along with what would be the entrance to the fleet fire control tower if the Ka-Laggann was equipped with one. She did however boast a flag bridge for any flag officer that may wish to command anything from a squadron to a entire task force from the Ka-Laggann, though it was currently out-of-use and acting in some ways as a secondary CIC as the Battlecruiser still had the personnel assigned to fill out the stations save a flag officer's staff, so for now they simply worked the same data CIC got.

Leeta walked the short distance to the bridge hatch, stopping to nod to the various crewmen who stepped aside for her and stood to attention at her passing. The Marine sentry on the bridge door stood his ground however as he supposed to do.

"Ma'am" he nodded respectively as she drew to a stop just in front of him and the bridge hatch. She nodded in return but said nothing as she palmed the door controls and the hatch silently slid aside.

The relative quiet of the passageway behind her was broken by the general bustle of a working bridge. Ratings talking quietly among themselves as their officers watched over them - they were trusted enough to hold quiet conversations while they performed their duties and Leeta had no problem with that so long as they maintained their excellent standard of efficiency.

As the Captain strode through the open hatch, the quartermaster of the deck, Chief Petty Officer Norma Naabal stood from her station taking a deep breath to announce the Captain, at least, that what she was supposed to do if experience with working with Captain Leeta Naabal hadn't let that little tradition slide, the Captain prefered her people working rather than standing to attention every time she entered or exited. What the quartermaster did do was make eye contact with the captain, nod sharply and press a key on her station, entering into the log when the Captain had entered the bridge and sending a small light code to the command chair to inform whoever was occupying it that they'd be ready to find a new seat.

Commander Gail S'Jet was the person holding the ship when the Captain appeared beside her. The blonde nodded a greeting to her captain as she finished talking to an ensign about something.

"I have the bridge Commander." Leeta said in the time honoured tradition of the passage of command aboard a ship of war.

"Captain." Gail said as she rose. "I am relieved, You have the bridge." She finished as she stepped aside and allowed the taller woman to settle into her customary seat. "Nothing to pass ma'am."

"Excellent Commander." Leeta returned as the chair subtly altered itself to her body type, and with that the Commander made her way to her own customary station beside the Captain's chair.

Leeta glanced over her bridge. All the various departments were wrapped in their own little worlds, ratings and officers were darting back and forth running whatever errands where needed to keep the Battlecruiser running smoothly.

The main holographic display was configured to tactical mode, showing the relative location and status of the Ka-Laggann and her compatriots in hyperspace. Relative was the correct word as with everything in hyperspace, nothing was absolutely correct in this strange domain. The information was still correct but it had a slightly greater margin for error than it would be in normal space, not a problem since the ships maintained a minimum safety distance of a 55,000 kilometres between ships to ensure not only physical safety but also that their respective waveforms wouldn't interfere with each other and cause issues.

Currently Second Watch was in control of the ship. On a ship the duty roster was split into four equal length shifts. Each watch consisted of enough personnel to oversee all the major systems while the rest either ate, slept or simply went about other business. The command staff, the Captain, the XO and the department heads were outside this roster as they were always 'on call' and therefore free the majority of the time to go about their own duties save when needed, like combat or other leadership intensive exercises. It was not uncommon however on any warship of the Hiigaran navy to see said command staff simply show up and take over for a period, they would often use the computers or their stations to work on problems and oversee their departments at the same time and the Captain and the Executive Officer were the same in that regard.

So when Leeta looked to see who was manning the tactical department and didn't see the familiar pair of women running the gaggle of ratings and non-coms Leeta wasn't surprised, what she was surprised about however was who was running tactical.

"Lieutenant Gideon." Leeta said as she saw the face of the young officer. Lieutenant Junior Grade Gideon Manaan snapped his head up to look at his Captain dutifully. "I thought you were on first watch?"

"Yes ma'am." The dark skinned officer replied sharply. "Lieutenant Commander Liara is taking the department through some drills and simulations on the flag bridge and secondary command. I'm holding the fort for her until they are concluded ma'am." the younger man answered quickly.

"Huh." was Leeta reply as she glanced to the Commander at her station.

Gail looked between the two other officers for a second before speaking. "I authorised Liara's drills, she should be finished in an hour or so."

"Using both secondary command and the flag bridge?" Leeta quired with raised eyebrow..

Gail shrugged subtly. "Seemed more efficient than cramming them into one of the two, or even the simulators."

Leeta suppressed a chuckle as she preferred to do when in public and in the command chair. She could agree with that assessment, she'd remembered well her time as a tactical weenie and the time spent in the cramped tactical simulators the Navy insisted on using. The fact that the Ka-Laggann was equipped with a suite of them meant that any such training should use them instead of regular equipment. However, given that the aforementioned flag bridge was unoccupied and the simulators could only handle a fraction of the tactical personnel at a time meant that there was merit to the Commander decision.

Leeta simply made an expression of approval before looking back to the Lieutenant. "Have you already been through this… simulation Lieutenant?" She asked.

Lt Gideon coloured slightly and smirked, "Not yet ma'am. I and my team" he indicated the group of junior officers, petty officers and ratings, "are up next." A few of those ratings glanced up at the mention of being part of the Lieutenant JGs team but otherwise said nothing.

Leeta let the LtJG get back to his duties as she studied the navigational plot projected from her command chair.

Two days, or more precisely one day and twenty hours, give or take subjectivity until her suddenly a lot larger squadron arrived in the Cenall System, then a short jaunt through realspace to reach the system's fourth planet, Celan.

The Captain leaned back into her chair, steepled her fingers and simply let the day unfold.

*.*.*.*

"Huh." Leeta uttered more to herself than the small gathering of officers in the main briefing room with her as she read the reports from the Lieutenant Commander's Tactical Simulation earlier that day.

"I'm not accustomed to dying Lieutenant Commander - but these simulations do make for interesting reading." The captain noted with a sideways glance to the younger officer.

Liara blushed ever so slightly as she looked back at her captain but she gathered herself quickly and began with her explanation of the simulation after the captain had had time to glance over them. "I tried to extrapolate the possible situations we could find ourselves in using the recovered information from the squadron we encountered. While I had hard numbers for the destroyers, I used the technical advancements of the light cruisers and scaled them up to a battlecruiser." She tapped a key and the large holographic display that hovered above the table changed to show an old Ynnead-Class Battlecruiser used by the Vaygr during the war.

If the old LiirHra-class Battlecruiser which faced the Ynnead could be called wide and flat in shape, then the Ynnead was a thin and tall beast of interstellar war.

"I had to fudge a few things as we have little-to-no hard intelligence on any of the new BCs the Vaygr are using, if any." Liara continued. "We have precious little intelligence of the going-ons in the deep areas of the Vaygr Reaches. My last update from OMNI had a section that mentioned a rumoured 'Ynnead B or C' appearing but had no hard numbers so I simply applied everything we got to the original."

Leeta nodded as she listened. She had read something very similar prior to the Ka-Laggann's deployment. While Gehenna was a Hiigaran Fleet Base and both the Hiigarans and the Taiidani remained somewhat vigilant when it came to the Vaygr and despite the counter-offensive during and after the war - the 'deep areas' of the Vaygr Reaches as they had come to be known were still home to the few Vay Crusade-Holds that had survived. Much of their surviving forces had fled back to those worlds to lick their wounds and the Hiigarans had followed them.

The campaign lasted three years and saw numerous battles as the 2nd and 3rd Battle Fleets along with the 7th Fleet tried to disrupt as much of the infrastructure as possible to put an end to the Vaygr threat but the sheer strategic depth along with the tenacity of the Vay to defend their coreworlds had surprised the galactic council. Before long however the Hiigarans and the Taiidani had caused enough damage both materially and militarily that any remnants of Maakan's unifying influence of the Vaygr crumbled and they fell back into infighting. The allied forces returned with something like victory in tow - the Vaygr were no longer a threat to Hiigara and after all the bloodshed on both sides, the Daiamid and a tired military decided that was enough.

Some people still called this move a failure on the Daiamid's part - yes they had crippled the Vaygr for the near-future they had left a possible enemy lurking in space. Afterall they said, the Kushan killed the Taiidani Emperor and shattered his empire with a tiny fraction of the force the Hiigaran Navy possessed - and after the attempted genocide, why would the Daiamid allow such a threat to exist in any form?

The Sa of Sas, the executive head of the Daiamid at the time, Karan S'Jet had simply looked disheartened when the question was practically screamed at her during a press conference afterwards. The old warrior simply looked at the screamer - a newsie with a streak of inflammatory reporting - with a look that should had vaporised her on the spot before simply shaking her head.

Leeta was born a few years later and that question was another one of those things got dragged up every few years by political commentators, decrying it as the greatest post-war mistake the Hiigarans could have made.

For its part the military and the Navy had never tried to answer it after that, taking their lead from Fleet Command but Leeta had heard stories from her uncle who served as a engineering warrant officer during the campaign. They were tired, the Navy, the Army and the Daiamid. For nearly six years they had fought a long, painful war that had seen millions of their own dead, to say nothing of the projected millions of Taiidani and millions of Vaygr. The worlds the Navy had been sent to smash were little more than barely spacefaring death worlds, none of the Crusade-Holds were considered livable by Hiigaran standards. Her Uncle said it was like seeing Kharak in a hundred different styles, some were like Kharak, desert wastelands, some were balls of ice, some were tropical hellholes with flora and fauna that could kill a man in minutes if not seconds.

The Hiigaran and Taiidani saw the living hells the Vaygr lived in and after dutifully blowing up their space based industries and the infighting began, those crews and soldiers watched as any hope for Vaygr died with thousands of innocents as the internecine conflicts began again.

That was how Uncle Jorba told it. He had returned from Naval Service a changed man, according to her father, he had become quiet and reclusive until his death a few years ago.

Leeta hadn't really known what he meant, not really, not until she earned the Serene Star.

Leeta pushed those thoughts aside as she focused on the technical breakdown that her younger tactical officer had launched into without much input from her Captain or the other officers around the table, the holograms of the other squadron captains, their tac-officers and Yanna Naabal who sat beside her friend nodding as Liara went through each step of her 'upgrades' to the Ynnead Battlecruiser.

"I ran several different computer-only simulations before gaming a few out with the squadron." Liara said as she glanced to her opposite numbers around the table.

Thanks to their relative proximity in hyperspace, virtually real time communications between ships had allowed not only this meetings but also for such a simulation to take place and each ship in the simulation had been under the control of their respective tactical departments though they all took their direction from the command ship unless independant action was authorised.

"I allowed for a severe upgrade in the Vaygr ECM and penetration aids we didn't see per se in the recovered tech but is possible without to much a logical leap, at least to me." She added quickly as Captain Reeger's eyebrow rose.

Reeger was an relatively old hand when it came to Navy but not to command, he was a mustang, an enlisted rating who had been commissioned during service and had come with a tactical background.

"Can I get an initial summary before I go over your full report Lieutenant Commander?" The old captain asked of the junior officer as he tapped the dataslate in front of him. "I also didn't expect to be told that I died by my TO." he glanced with a smile to the aforementioned tac-officer who had returned the grin before the two returned to their neutral expressions.

Liara seemed to sit a bit straighter in her customary seat before she tapped a short command into the holo-table's controls and the hologram reconfigured to show the simulated battle at it's start with both squadrons facing each other across 20 million kilometres.

"Of course sir." She nodded before she began in earnest. "I ran three full length sims with not only my own tactical team and my counterparts across the squadron - but I also took over the OpFor for a few of the sims so to feel out both sides of the balance of forces." She said as the simulation began to play out, sped up several times but slow enough to follow easily enough. "At first I opted for a direct approach, relying on the combined missile defence and our own throw weight to overpower the enemy."

"I played the sim from a position of both feigned and real ignorance, I allowed the computer to fudge the final enhancements along with a few inputs from the Ka-Laggann's executive officer. I knew I was going to take the hit, how much however was the unknown factor." Liara said as she looked up and down the table at the senior officers. "Needless to say a head-on engagement was perhaps the worst outcome of the simulation."

"I'd say." Reeger cut in. "Nearly 28 percent casualties across the squadron and the Gethsemane was lost." The older man glanced to the named Light Cruiser's captain, Commander Kendra Somtaaw who looked less than pleased at that tidbit herself. Liara knew it wasn't her fault technically but she couldn't help but feel a pang of something like distress or anxiety.

"Perhaps." The younger but senior captain cut over her subordinate captain. Reeger stiffened for a moment as Leeta stopped his interruption with one of her own. "But perhaps we should allow the Lieutenant Commander to continue - you asked for her summary Captain."

Leeta watched Reeger's hologram for a moment longer, she liked Reeger as a second-in-command but his demeanour as an officer sometime left something to be desired. The man had the subtly of a sandstorm but he was a very capable combat commander and knew his duties as Leeta's second very well. He was very popular with the enlisted and non-coms and something of a grumpy old man with newer, greener officers, especially those fresh from the academies.

Leeta noted the look on Commander Kendra's face with a glance of her own. The Commander saw the glance from her commanding officer and said look of distaste vanished almost instantly. Happy that order had been restored to her satisfaction Leeta nodded for Liara to continue.

"I tried to plan an engagement from the position of a squadron commander who had fewer but heavier ships overall. I moved to bring our nominally better missile strike capabilities into effective range, then mop-up with the main guns as needed - I concentrated fire on the battlecruisers as I deemed them the greater threat, destroying or crippling them earlier was paramount - sadly it seems their advances in missile defence can outpower our current generation missile combat doctrine - less missiles than optimal reached attack range and any damage we landed seemed less than totally effective." As she said that the first missile exchange played out before them. Liara paused the playback and indicated several areas on the holo.

"As you can see, the Vaygr launched at extreme range, while we have to allow for accuracy drop off at that range - the missiles we recovered have the drive endurance for such ranges." She heard a few sharp inhales about the table though she didn't see who. "As you can also see, they launched first. We were still out of our normal effective missile range, I was able to return fire only because our RDs had managed to get into their effective range without too many of them being destroyed, otherwise the accuracy drop-off would have been too great to effectively return fire."

Leeta watched as the duel began again and Liara narrated. The long and short of it was that what the Vaygr lacked in fancy tech or tactical witchery, they made up in brute power, more missiles per launch, more armour on their main ships and more ships per squadron.

The missile duel had dealt damage to every ship of the 147th on their way in - the Ka-Laggann had ridden it out reasonably well, but the Ka-Katii and the Gethsemane had taken heavy hits and had been weaker for it later on in the fight. The Heavy Cruisers had taken a few knocks but also rode out the storm until later.

"Once we closed the range, the sheer weight of missiles became nearly overwhelming, our point defence was tasked to maximum and if we hadn't taken out so many of their tubes then I fear we might have seen a very different outcome once we entered energy range." Liara explained dryly.

Reeger studied the holo closely, if he had found any point of contention he said nothing as Liara continued.

"Enemy hit-ratios of both missiles and energy fire, were also above expected. Those were calculated using the recovered targeting computers." Liara noted as an aside. "Once we closed to knife-fight range - things started to swing back in our favour." She tapped a series of commands into the controls and the display zoomed in to show the combat. The image was an enhanced one, the ships were vastly larger than they truly were in the distance depicted between the two squadrons.

"Our shield systems, our ECM and fire control allowed a higher percentage of hits. Against the newer shields the Vaygr we've seen deployed, our standard Ion cannons have suffered a thirty-two percent decrease in effectiveness, however an alteration in the pulse pattern of the bolt has regained much of that, reducing that decrease to on average nineteen percent on a direct hit." Liara highlighted several of those direct hits on the holo display. "Allowing for some variance in practical application, I would recommend that OMNI and R and D look into a long term alteration to cruiser and battlecruiser class Ion weaponry to address this. I ran a few simulation with known values for Battleship and larger Ion weapons and the reduction is less than nine point three percent due to the output of such class cannons. All my calculations and in-depth analysis are within the appendices attached to my report." Liara noted as the holographic ships took hits and armour shattered all over again.

Over ten minutes later, Liara had completed her general overview of the battle-simulation and the assembled officers were digesting the new information. The captains and their tac-officers were each in quiet conversation for a moment as the hologram reconfigured to show the next of the simulations.

Liara quickly pressed on, describing the next few simulations her tactical teams had run. The second had been a more cautious battle plan, using the superior compensators and overall speed the Hiigaran's enjoyed to keep the range open for as long as humanly possible. This battle had been better for the 147th, though the Vaygr had a heavier throw weight, at maximum range their accuracy was less than optimal and combined with the counter-missile defenses, the duel between squadron swung in the favour of the other side. In the end, in return for shooting themselves dry of missiles, the Vaygr had killed only the Tiir'La and the Ka-Katii with the others damaged but able to fight. The Hiigarans on the other hand had managed to mangle BC1 and BC2 and kill six of the eight destroyers. The resulting energy duel was over quickly though the two Vaygr Battlecruisers had damaged the Ka-Laggann and the Shiinra before they died though nowhere near the extent of the head-on engagement.

The meeting over all continued for nearly ninety minutes before Liara finally ran out of things to talk about and her audience ran out of questions.

Many of the officer made little small talk before disconnecting with a few curt nods to Liara and Yanna.

Eventually it was down to Liara, Yanna, Reeger and Leeta and the two more junior officers had stepped out to find a cup of coffee for the both of them at the request of Captain Leeta.

The two captains were now alone in the briefing room. Leeta was studying the calculations from the simulations while silence settled across the table. The Captain beside her made some interesting grunts during the meeting though had remained silent after his first slip of the tongue.

The man was mulling the briefing over and his hologram was scratching his clean-shaven chin and his lip pursed in a low whistle as he looked over the data on his end.

"Your thoughts?" Leeta asked to the older Captain Reeger beside her, her tone a neutral one and one eyebrow raised as the incredulous look held to Reeger's face like a mask.

Reeger glanced to his squadron commander and for a moment said nothing. "I'm not sure - I'll have to run the numbers myself but if these conclusions are accurate." He was quiet for a moment. "And I assume they are." He added before continuing, "But if this is what the Vaygr are putting to space - among the pirates no less - and if it scales to their all up warships then even the battle fleet would be in for a nasty surprise if they came head-to-head."

"Assuming the Vaygr are united again, that a successor to Maakan has gotten the Crusade-Holds to forget their personal conflicts and gotten their economies and industries back up to building those 'all up warships' to enough numerical strength to even equal the battle fleets." Leeta added as the other captain trailed off. Reeger nodded quickly. Leeta turned back to the still-frame on the holo, showing the end of the last simulation the pair of officers had watched. "An awful lot of assumptions with precious little to back it up." Leeta pursed her lips into a low whistle. "But I agree, with so many unanswered questions I can see it ending that way, however unlikely."

Reeger's eyes flickered wide for an instant.

Leeta held up a placating hand. "But, on the other hand - it could be just one Crusade-Hold has gotten it's act together and they begged, bought or stole some high-grade weapons and gear-"

"And metallurgy, and construction facilities." Reeger added, his mask giving way to something akin to a smile.

Leeta allowed herself a half grin before returning to her customary neutral. "I know, I know - it's all speculation."

"Based off a few recovered prizes and a few estimations and simulations."

"Yeah, I know." Leeta grin again, this time with less humour. "And I thought I was supposed to be the cynic." She raised a questioning eyebrow at the other man and he grinned a little wider.

"Ha, we've traded back and forth more than once today already, I lost track of who is supposed to be who." And for once Captain Leeta chuckled.

"We'll be at Gehenna before you know it, we'll hand it to them and let OMNI fret themselves silly, let us get back to thwacking merchies' on the knuckles, you know, the easy stuff." Reeger said as he pitched back in his chair.

Now Captain Leeta laughed.


	5. Chapter 5

_\- Chapter Five -_

" _I hereby solemnly swear, on my life and my Kiith, to uphold the Rite of Daiamid and the Rite of the Traveller, and to protect the Homeworld, Hiigara and all her daughters, I swear to stand for my brothers and sisters, regardless of Kiith, in peace and in war, so help me_ Sajuuk _, so help me Sa." - Oath of the Uniform of Hiigara - spoken by every person upon induction into the military - Often recited upon taking command of a Mothership._

Hiigaran Fleet Station 5-1041, or Fleet Base Gehenna was the largest military outpost in the Outer Vaygr Reaches. Out of the Gehenna Base operated virtually all of OMNI's operations in the Reaches and the Confederacy. Also stationed at Fleet Base was the Hiigaran 5th Fleet and a task force of the 6th Fleet and a task group from the 7th, as the Ka-Laggann discovered as she dropped out of hyperspace almost on schedule.

The business in Celan had gone off without much incident. The convoy and her Anti-Piracy Squadron Escort had arrived, had discharged their on board goods to both their buyers on the planetary surface and to accredited transports to take the convoys remaining goods on to the stop they could not make thanks to the Captain of the Ka-Laggann. So in the end for the merchant, there would be a cost though not as heavy as he had thought.

"New contacts" Sensor Tech First Rate Keibler Soban announced as the main display burst into life as the sensors and communications systems were barraged by the energy points and transmissions bouncing around the isolated area of space.

"That's the 5th Fleet's Command Ship." Gail said as the plot glittered with new transponder codes. The one the Executive Officer was referring to was the transponder code for the Mothership Ifriit, flagship of the 5th Battle Fleet. The transponder also pulsed the sub-channel code for it's flag, announcing that Command-Admiral Mandala Yii-sun Naabal was aboard.

Gail let out a low whistle. A Command-Admiral was second only to the Admiral of the Fleets, Ibrahim Cor-naii Soban and in turn the Daiamid itself. To see such exalted rank so far out from the homeworld along with a revered ship such as the Ifriit was startling in itself, to see not just those two but the myriad light sources for the other ships was something else.

"I count five Dreadnought squadrons, five Battleship Squadrons, three Battlecruiser Squadrons…" Gail continued as her eyes darted across the plot.

"And three carrier detachments, not to mention three cruiser squadrons and five destroyer squadrons." Leeta added from her place beside her XO. "And all the Frigate Flotillas they could want."

"There must be over a thousand interceptors and gunships out there." Gail nodded to the veritable nebula of light contacts circling the massive number of heavy warships. "Yeah, this is it, the entire Fifth Fleet."

"Must be." Leeta breathed.

Gail turned her head to look at the taller woman over her shoulder. "I wonder what they're doing out here." She asked quietly, not that it needed to be quiet. One it was a valid question, and two most of the bridge crew was thinking it as they also took chances to look at the master plot.

Leeta looked back at her XO and shrugged. "You guess is a good as mine."

Before either officer could say any more, Lieutenant Kreel spoke up from his station at communications.

"Captain, we are receiving a transmission, no, make that two transmissions, no, three."

"Aren't we popular." Gail said sotto voce.

"Two transmissions was text, one is a live call - origin, Gehenna Base. ID says it from the office of Vice-Admiral Senna S'Jet."

Leeta felt her eyebrows rise against her will as she heard the name, Senna S'Jet was the station commander for Gehenna after all so she really shouldn't have been surprised. It took a second to wrestle the wayward eyebrows back down as she made her way back to her command dais and her comfy chair.

"Have it sent to me here Lieutenant." She ordered as she took her seat and crossed her communications lieutenant nodded and tapped at his console dutifully. An orange hued holo-window flashed to life in front of Leeta displaying the hold-wallpaper of the Gehenna Base.

Leeta nodded again to Kreel after half a moment and the wallpaper was swiftly replaced with a face Leeta knew to be the Vice-Admiral.

Vice-Admiral Senna was a smallish woman, with near pitch-black hair and a dark complexion. She also had similar violet eyes as Leeta, though Senna's had a few lines about them as the years had passed.

"Vice-Admiral." Leeta nodded her head respectively to the other woman.

"Captain Leeta - what a surprise to see you so early." The husky contralto came back across the communications link. The older woman smiled as well as her violet eyes darted to something just outside the pick-up. "I see you have picked a few more volunteers for your squadron."

"And a few wayward merchies along the way ma'am." Leeta returned the smile politely. The Admiral looked a question at the Captain and Leeta felt the smile turn into a smirk, if only for an instant before the memory of her anger flushed her back into neutrality. "Yes, we found them in the Hif-An-Asiim System under attack by our new volunteers, we of course intervened."

"And in due course offered to escort them out of harm's way I see, very well done Captain. Though I wonder, if they are out in the Confederacy, they should have had their own escorts." The Admiral's tone grew a few degree colder with the next sentence. "I hope they weren't destroyed Captain." Her eyes looked deep into Leeta's, across the FTL-comm link and nearly seventeen light seconds of distance.

"Thankfully not Admiral, it would appear that these merchants left without their escort - they reasoned that operating so close to Hiigara, relatively speaking of course, would offer them enough protection - once they saw the error of their decision, they immediately agreed to my offer to bring them home, or as close to it as I could. I have a full report Admiral, not only of that but of our entire cruise so far for your review, at your pleasure."

A smirk crawled across the Vice-Admiral's lips for a moment before it vanished as quickly as it had arrived. "Excellent Captain, I look forward to reading them and speaking with you in person when you arrive."

Leeta nodded again, it was customary for any arriving squadron commander to meet with a station commander upon arrival. "Yes Admiral so do I, I expect to arrive and dock in" - she glanced at the navigational plot projected from her command chair - "one hour and fifty minutes according to both my navigational section and traffic control."

The Admiral smiled thinly, "Excellent Captain, my chief-of-staff will meet you on arrival and I shall see you in two hours. Gehenna out."

Leeta returned with another nod before the comm link went out, replaced by a screen that simply read, TRANSMISSION TERMINATED.

The Captain took a few breaths before glancing back to the master plot. One down she supposed.

"Kreel." She said as her eyes touched on the trio of ships that identified as command ships, the Mothership Ifriit, the Assault Carrier Idris, leading the 6th Fleet Task Force and the Battlecruiser En-Sabbat, leading the 7th Fleet Task Force. "Send our greetings and our compliments to the command ships in the area would you?"

"Aye aye ma'am." The Lieutenant responded swiftly.

Captain Leeta looked as the pulsing icon for the En-Sabbat for a moment longer. "Liara." She said as she glanced to look to the tactical officer. "Who do we have on record as commander of the En-Sabbat?"

The tactical officer tapped a series of queries into her station before looking back to her captain. "Ma'am I have Captain Justin Naabal on record, he is also listed as Flag Captain for Rear-Admiral Kellan Somtaaw, commander of Task Force seven point four."

Leeta hummed as she looked at the trio of cruiser squadrons and three similar anti-piracy cruiser squadrons that hung in loose formation with the En-Sabbat. Technically under the established order of battle of the 7th Fleet, the Ka-Laggan was considered part of the 41st Battlecruiser Squadron, Task Force 7.2 under Rear-Admiral Aidan Kaalel.

"Kreel, while you're transmitting, have a copy of our official report dispatched for Rear-Admiral Kellan Somtaaw." Leeta added to her previous order after a moment of thought, after all, she had no idea when she would cross paths with Admiral Aidan, he was somewhere to the galactic south with the rest of Commodore James Naabal's 41st Battlecruiser Squadron.

The Lieutenant responded as sharply as before and Leeta let him continue. Without further interruption.

An hour later Leeta was sat behind her desk in her day cabin, the Ka-Laggann still powering towards the massive superstructure of Gehenna Base.

On her screens were the various correspondence the Ka-Laggann had received in the last hour, including her conversation with Vice-Admiral Senna.

The first message they had received had been from the En-Sabbat. It was a message from Flag Captain Justin Yii-lal Naabal, Leeta's blood cousin though reasonably distant despite the blood connection.

'Hello little cousin,' it read after the usual headings of ship-to-ship communication. 'I hope this finds you well. I didn't expect to see you here so soon. I know you have things to attend to, and I'm tied up here otherwise I'd be able to talk face to face with you, I am however a very quick typer so this will have to do for now. When you get some free time, and if you are so inclined, I'd like to invite you the En-Sabbat for dinner or supper, time allowing of course.

Yours sincerely,

Big cousin Justin.'

Leeta couldn't hide the smile here in private as she read the message back a second time. She hadn't expected to encounter Justin out here, she knew he was Captain of an Escarii-class like herself, but to hear he'd made Flag Captain was something akin to news to her. Last she heard, the En-Sabbat and her captain were patrolling the outer rim trade routes - to find them a Task Force Flagship was quite a change in circumstances.

Leeta quickly typed up a reply, smiling still as she did. Nothing fancy, but a reply in the vein of his own message. She hadn't seen her cousin in what felt like a decade, though in truth she had seen him, however briefly at the last major wedding of Family Yii-Lal she'd been able to attend about six years ago, before either of them got their Battlecruiser commands. She was still a Light Cruiser skipper and he was just graduating to Heavy Cruiser command.

They had entered the Naval Service a few months apart and had been a year separate in terms of academy training, though his career had slowed slightly when he had spent a tour as part of a Commodore's staff while she had accrued command seniority as a Frigate skipper.

The second message took Leeta a step back for a second when she looked over the header.

'From FCC-20141 - MS-07 'Ifriit' - Flag Bridge'

'Captain Leeta Yii-Lal, greetings to this little corner of the galaxy, I hope this message finds you well. To my recollection is has been a while since we last crossed paths and that is a shame but such is life in the service of Hiigara. I am unsure as to the period of time we are both likely to remain within this system, but however should we cross paths during that time, I wouldn't say no to a chat with one of my favoured nieces.

Sincerely

Mandala Yii-sun

Command-Admiral, 5th Fleet.'

Leeta sat, re-reading the message a couple times as she processed the situation. The Yii-Lal Naabal family was a close relative of the far-senior Yii-sun Naabal family, the fact that several of the Naabal Kiith-Sas had been Yii-sun meant that compared to such an esteemed family, the Yii-Lal were practically nothing as the highest they had ever rose politically was local parish council. She had served with her esteemed uncle years ago as part of his screening element though she had been so junior that she would have barely registered among the veritable horde of senior captains, commodores and admirals of every stripe and colour. Under that towering mountain of seniority and tonnage of the capital ships, she and her fresh command would have been just another brick in the Command-Admiral's wall of battle.

"Favoured niece." She repeated quietly.

Two and a half hours after her initial discussion with Admiral Senna, the Ka-Laggann came to a complete halt beside one of the major docking arms on the military end of Gehenna station.

Gehenna station was large, vast was another word that got thrown around a lot by the news media. Originally a single star base in a system that lacked any habitable planets, where it had simply been a rearm and repair station, which it still was despite it new functions, it had grown exponentially since it first construction after the Vaygr War.

Gehenna Station consisted of three parts, the majority of the station was given over to the Naval Service and the Armed Service as a staging area for both the fleet and the Hiigaran Army. It had living quarters for literally tens of thousands of personnel. This was the titular Gehenna Base. It had everything a modern navy needed. Housing and support for entire crews if needed, enough on-hand 'yard dogs' and a couple dozen repair slips to keep any ship in fighting order along with a few building slips for new construction of lighter units, mainly frigates and smaller. Enough defences to make it a _difficult_ target short of an overwhelming armada to even consider attacking with enough launchers and the ammunition bunkers to put quite literally thousands of missiles into space if needed and backed up by Star Base-class energy weapons that made even a Dreadnought main cannons look small in comparison.

It also played home to it's own interceptor and gunship wings and frigate flotillas for permanent mobile defence along with cruiser and destroyer squadrons cycled through regularly for the Station Commander's independent hyper-capable forces.

The second component of the station was the titular Oracle, or the OMNI Regional Oversight Office. Supposedly it had hundreds of analysts and other rear-area agents on hand working over everything that they got from the Confederacy and the Deep Reaches along with server farms capable of playing out entire galactic situations in a matter of seconds with details that even Liara's simulations would be jealous of. They also worked with the Navy with one of the largest R&D facilities outside of the Angel's Moon Facility.

The word supposedly was used as everything was speculation and rumours passed around ships and barracks as OMNI like any self-respecting intelligence agency, kept most of the details of their operations secret.

The third component of Gehenna Station was a commercial/civilian aspect that had grown up around the Station's natural anchor for trade and while it remained a military star base, it saw significant commercial traffic though under a good degree of scrutiny.

While the sheer number of permanent military personnel outnumbered the permanent civilian population, the temporary and turnover population numbers were almost synonymous with the amount of trade convoys or private ships operating out in this region of the galaxy.

Every trade convoy was required to check in with one or more military star base before and during their runs if they wished be allowed to leave Hiigaran space - the Daiamid took protection of their merchant marine very seriously. Most either started from Hiigara or another colony, which also counted, and then rendezvoused with a star base during their run. The merchant convoy the Ka-Laggann had escorted here was already due to arrive at Gehenna though not for almost two months. The check-in served two purposes, one was to catalog and identify who and what was going where, second was to give the assigned escort detachment time to rally and subsequently rearm and repair if necessary. It also gave a widely known fall back point should something catastrophic happen to the convoy.

The station was built around a central core with three great arms protruding around this core forming a grand Y-esque shape in space.

The Gehenna base orbited a giant red star at approximately ten-light minutes from the star and was the only thing in the star system aside from the Oort cloud and the million of asteroids that littered the inner system, most of those asteroids were no larger than two hundred kilometres and very few got larger than two hundred and fifty.

Gehenna was a shade under nineteen kilometres at the central core, the arms were each another thirty kilometres and six kilometres thick and wide.

The Ka-Laggann was practically an ant-spider compared to such a massive edifice of metal and ceremite, measuring from bow to stern only 1.2 kilometres and two hundred and thirty one metres deep and four hundred and fifty eight metres at the widest and then tapering down towards the bow coming to three hundred and ninety metres

The docking arms reached out to embrace the Battlecruiser, great tethers gripped the hull and pulled her close as she entered into her assigned docking slip. Fuel lines and personnel tubes inched closer as the Ka-Laggann ceased any powered acceleration of her own and was drawn in by tractor beams and the powerful arms.

The bridge was filled with the litanies of heading adjustments, calls and responses, or simple chant-like updates on hull pressure and integrity. The Navigator and his assistants watched their highly detailed plots as the helmsman released the controls and instead worked the console, inputting fine-tuned commands as they were fed to him by Hassan and his people.

The ship itself protested under such conditions, she rumbled under their feet as her own agency, her ability to fly free was taken from her but all the same she followed the commands of the helm as they were entered. The reaction thrusters flashed one last time before the ship came to a final and definite halt inside the slip.

The docking tubes ran out to the Ka-Laggann's hull to mate with their counterparts, fuel lines did the same towards the engineering section and ammunition runners floated out from their standby positions with loads of missiles and Ice-Gold Kinetic warheads.

"Ka-Laggann - Gehenna Tower - all contact lights green, pressure and gravity stabilized, looks all good from this end. We are ready to receive you, welcome to Gehenna Station." The voice of the docking master echoed through the bridge as the Battlecruiser and the star base completed their final mating rituals and the passenger tubes sealed in place.

Leeta stood from her bridge command chair and nodded to Hassan as he relaxed, leaning back in his chair and taking a sip of a cup of coffee. Gail rose as well from her chair and prepared to leave with the captain.

"Officer of the watch." Leeta announced as she took a single step off the dais. "You have the bridge."

Unlike the rest of virtually the entire Hiigaran Navy, the personnel tubes lacked the artificial gravity that allowed the men and women of the Naval Service to walk about as they would planetside, instead the transferring personnel had to float through the zero-g tube to the other end.

Leeta was pulled along the tube by one of the powered handholds provided. Gail followed shortly behind and a single Lieutenant who carried a hard case that carried all the collected information and simulations of the captured Vaygr ships and computers.

As the Captain came to the Gehenna-side of the tube, she caught sight of a dozen or so sideboys, a senior chief petty officer and a trio of officers.

Leeta swung through the tube into the welcoming grip of gravity once again, landing on her feet just inside the transfer deck to the sound of the chief petty officer's bellowing announcement.

"Commander, Ka-Laggann arriving!" Followed by the snapping of boot heels and hands snapping to salute. The Captain was quickly followed by her second in command and the lieutenant who came to a well rehearsed look of neutrality and attention.

The most junior of the trio of present officers stepped forwards and came to a crisp salute before the Captain. Leeta returned it as she glanced over the officer. He was of average height and build, his dirty blond hair hidden mostly under a black beret and blue-grey eyes that still carried a glimmer of youth. Leeta quickly ran her eyes over the rank and nameplate of the smaller officer.

"Captain Leeta Naabal, Ka-Laggann, 7th Fleet." Leeta stated as she came to attention.

"Ma'am, Lieutenant Senior Grade Jannic Kaalel, Officer of the Deck, Gehenna Station." The smaller man returned equally as crisply.

"Permission to come aboard Lieutenant." Leeta asked as tradition demanded.

The young officer nodded quickly. "Permission granted ma'am, welcome aboard."

Leeta dropped the salute first, again as tradition demanded before offering to the Lieutenant who took it. A moment and a nod passed between the two before they released the handshake and Leeta stepped past him towards the other two officers.

Both were Captains, though both wore the black berets and one was in the slight variation uniform that marked him as an Intelligence Officer while the other wore the same Class A uniform that Leeta wore.

"Captain Leeta." The Intelligence officer nodded to her as she came within earshot. "Captain David Naabal, OMNI." he offered his hand much like the Lieutenant and Leeta took it graciously. The Intelligence Officer was on the tall side, perhaps a few centimetres over Leeta and looked a good few grams heavier.

"Captain David." Leeta returned before turning to the second officer. "Captain Kira." she offered her hand to the other officer.

"Captain Leeta." The green eyed red haired Captain took the hand swiftly.

"I hear you have something for me." Captain David stated as Commander Gail and the Lieutenant made it passed the Officer of the Deck.

"Yes we do." Leeta beckoned the Lieutenant forwards. The officer stepped forwards with the heavy case still in his grip.

Captain David nodded to the young man before looking back to Leeta. "I have some questions to go with the information you've collected. If it's possible, could you spare some time to answer them?" He asked politely.

"Unfortunately." Captain Kira interjected before Leeta could respond. "Captain Leeta has been requested to meet with Admiral Senna very shortly." If that seemed to off put Captain David, he gave no sign of it aside from a very slight shrug of defeat.

Leeta glanced at Gail - it was pretty standard that OMNI would question the commanding officers in charge if they could get their hands on them for a few hours.

"I'm sure whatever you could ask me Captain, Commander Gail here." Leeta indicated her friend beside her, "would be able to answer any question, she was on the secondary command deck during the engagement."

Gail nodded as her Captain signed her up for a what was sure to turn into an hour or more long debrief, then again, the two had discussed it on the walk over.

"My reports are also included with the data-cache Captain." Leeta finished and the Intelligence officer seemed more than pleased.

Without much fanfare Captain David led Gail and the Lieutenant away towards one of the waiting lift-cars to be spirited to wherever OMNI hid among the labyrinthine station. Leeta watched them go with a slight air of both happiness, at not being stuck talking over and over about things that were written down in plain Kushan, but also slight apprehension as the discussion would inevitably roll round to the topic of the Lieutenant Commander's simulations and the topic of the 'scaling' to the Battlecruisers. None of it was truly backed up with observed evidence for those weight classes, but the Tactical Officer had done her best to estimate a possible increase, which was her job after all and the result had been less than appealing. Leeta wanted to be the one to defend those estimates in front of OMNI and the Weapons Analysis Board, to defend Liara's work where the Tactical Officer could not.

"Captain." Leeta was pulled back to the present by Kira's voice. Leeta turned to face the fellow Captain as she waved an arm towards another of the waiting lift-cars. The two moved away without another word.

The lift-car doors closed with the slightest hiss, Kira pressed the deck and section number into the control panel and soon they were underway.

The two leaned into corners facing one another as the long journey began. Leeta looked over Kira for a second. Kira always looked odd in Hiigaran uniform, ever since she and Leeta had met during the academy and served together on the Kapisi as Midshipwomen. Aside from the fiery red hair and gleaming green eyes, she was a half centimetre taller than Leeta with long legs matched by her long thin arms. Whereas most Hiigarans had dark or tan skin, Kira's skin was almost as white as starlight, making her amazingly striking amongst the regular Kharaki descendants. The other oddity was her name. Kira Ciri Lizbeth Jan-Al O'Mary S'Jet. Kira was a second generation immigrant to Hiigara, she and her family were ethnically Arrakeen, or from the planet Arrakis, a verdant world though tales once told that it was once a desert world like Kharak before the Bentusi sold them terraforming equipment millennia ago. Her mother had married into a Kiith S'Jet vassal family the Jan-Al years ago and soon had a daughter, and then a litter of other children as Kira put it.

Kira cracked a smile as she looked over her old friend. "Gotta say Lee'" she nodded to the uniform. "The new Class-As look a hell of alot better on you than the last one did."

And almost in an instant, Leeta's self-surety she'd spent hours meticulously tugging and adjusting before she felt comfortable went out the airlock, all to Kira sudden cackle of laughter.

"No, I'm serious Lee'." Kira waved the other Captain down as Leeta looked back with strained neutrality as she felt her cheeks heat slightly. "You always looked like you were ready to jump out of those horrid things they had us wear during our snotty cruise - but finally it looks like the navy has issued a uniform you look comfortable in."

The strained look on Leeta's face eased as she felt the corners of her mouth twitch into a smile. "I suppose, thanks Kira."

The red-head suddenly took on an expression of mock-hurtfulness as wagged a finger towards Leeta. "Kira, Kira? Who is that, this is Silly Ciri remember, Kira is my cover name." She grinned and Leeta couldn't help but join her old academy roommate and friend of so many years.

"Ah yes." Leeta said with a tone of complete seriousness. "I forgot your cover Princess Ciri of Arrakis." She followed it up with a mock bow and suddenly the closed lift car was filled with very un-captain like laughter.

It took a moment for either woman to get themselves under control. "Please, Princess are for little girls, I've took the throne now, it's Empress of the Universe Cirilla if you don't mind." Silly Ciri snorted between chuckles, which only sent them both into fresh waves of girlish laughter.

"Still" snort "Still with the delusions of grandeur I see." Leeta said after a minute, a wide smile still plastered across her face.

Kira, who'd also gotten herself under control shrugged lightly, "Ah one of us had too, you were also incredibly lacking in that department - alway wanting to be a Captain of one thing or another." She made a small gesture. "Well I suppose you've gotten a little closer then I have." She smiled genuinely at the other woman. "How've you been Lee?"

Leeta leaned against the railings and looked at her friend. "I've been good, aside from getting shot at more than a few times."

"Can't say I miss that." Kira replied as she mirrored her friend.

"It's been what, six years since your last command?"

Kira nodded slowly as she glanced at something only she could see for a second. "The Sunlit Heart, an old Kiiba-class Light Cruiser, back when I was a just a lowly Commander." She glanced at the bars on her epaulets that marked her as a Captain.

"You could always request a command - you've got four years seniority, you could get a Heavy Cruiser pretty easily." Leeta put forward.

Kira shrugged. "Three of those years as a station staff officer."

"A _Vice-Admiral's_ Chief of Staff." Leeta interjected. "And Gehenna is not exactly a dead-end station assignment, I mean, it's not the comm relay they sent what's-her-name-too."

"Michelle?" Kira guessed but Leeta shrugged."But whatever, it's all academic - I'm on the command staff-track now."

"But you were on the tactical-track and that leads into the command-track - you were a good ship skipper Ciri, you could be again." Leeta answered with absolute seriousness.

Kira waved a hand to curtail Leeta. "Sure, maybe, whatever - I've been thinking about it but there's nothing I can do for now." A moment passed as Leeta leaned back again. "So, what you been up too Lee?"

"Oh you know, this and that - been out of Hiigara for about two-thirds of a year now with the 147th. We've been doing pretty well, aside from the occasional firefight." She gave a lopsided grin to Kira. "what about you?"

"Oh you know, the usual." Kira glanced upwards for a moment. "Organising the admiral's life, going to about thirty nine thousand briefings every week because the admiral can only be at one at a time."

"Slacker." Leeta gave a mock-reproving glance to Kira.

"Yeah, yeah, it's the job of the chief of staff to keep on top of all day-to-day issues as to allow their CO to maintain their readiness and keep abreast of developments on the strategic level. At least that's what the book said when I got this billet."

Leeta made a noise that was half-way between a grunt and cough and Kira returned the glance from earlier. "Hey, you should see the amount of 'strategic' briefings and meetings the Admiral and I have to attend, I barely have time to keep the rest of the staff up-to-date, and they have their own department briefings, meetings, strategy sessions and whatever else to keep on top off."

"Almost sounds like you have a full workload." Leeta commented with a snort.

"Hey!" Kira narrowed her eyes at the other woman. "Unlike you 'white berets' we black-hat captains have actual duties - when was the last time you actually worked a shift?"

Leeta scoffed for an instant in disbelief. "I'll have you know I have many, many duties, _and_ I am always on-call." She returned, her own eyes narrowing. It was all in jest of course, while Leeta had never been a staff officer, Kira had been a ship's master and knew all the duties that that required. Leeta didn't begrudge her friend for taking the staff assignment when it was offered - having experience with higher level of command could do wonders for a career and it always helped to know how the higher echelons of the Navy worked. Leeta was offered a staff position once as a Staff Operations Officer once, but they'd offered her the Ka-Laggann the next day and the rest of that was history.

"Oh yeah, and how many of those duties can you perform for your snazzy day cabin, being fed tea and biscuits all day by your steward?" Kira fired back, a sly grin growing across her face.

Leeta pouted slightly as she looked off to the side. "It's not that snazzy." She remarked quietly. They both started laughing again.

It took a few moments before either one said anything, Leeta was simply enjoying the feeling as she let the masquerade slip slightly. She wore the white beret of a ship's captain, she knew her duty and she liked to think she executed those duties fully and to the best of her abilities, to virtually the entire Navy, Leeta Yii-Lal Naabal was a serious and determined ship skipper, able to keep calm under fire and in emergencies, and sometimes that made her come off as, less than warm to members of her crew. But here came Kira O'Mary S'jet, who known her literally decades, back when she was a gangly young academy student and somehow it was like the last twenty years of growth slipped away. Leeta had known this for a while, when she had run into Kira again when they were both Lieutenant Senior Grades serving on separate ships and they had spent the night giggling and laughing like they were first-year roommates again. Somehow Kira could do that to her and it used to get under Leeta's skin, but after the Serene Star, Leeta didn't mind at all.

"What's the Admiral like these days?" Leeta asked after another moment. "I mean, I know Senna S'Jet back when she was teaching at the academy, but that was years ago."

Kira nodded and shrugged. "She's pretty much the same - she's keen and sharp as they come - I doubt she'll have managed to read your entire report in detail but she'll go through your summaries before you step in there, be ready to be quizzed like the old days." Kira smirked. "But lately she's been a little on edge - I'm pretty sure it has to do with the amount of hardware passing through."

"Eh?" Leeta asked.

Kira shrugged. "You didn't hear it from me but…" the Chief of staff made a very animated turn of the head to see if a third person had managed to appear in the closed, moving lift-car. "About a week ago, the task force from the 7th Fleet showed up, not too bad. Then a day later a training cadre from the 6th fleet showed up, again, not unheard of." The 6th Fleet of the Hiigaran Naval Service served as the Navy's training and working up cruise organ, giving hands on experience for new ship's companies and the new designs before they saw widespread service, it also had the highest degree of Midshipmen and women among the Navy and for that reason it was often seen as the most 'junior' of the Navy's family of fleets. What most people overlooked however was the fact the 6th Fleet's Flagship, the Mothership Kapisi was typically the second most senior command posting in the entire Navy, and the command and core staff of much of those capital ships were battle-hardened veterans. Whilst yes, the 6th Fleet rarely saw service or combat outside Hiigaran space, it was an invaluable part of the fleet support structure and rear-area defence doctrines.

"Yeah." Leeta nodded as she followed Kira.

"Then four days ago, the entire _Sajuuk_ -damned 5th Fleet shows up, with Ifriit and more Dreadnoughts then I've seen since Sargon. Not to mention Command-Admiral Mandala." Kira shook her head. "We thought we were at war with the Taiidani and no one thought to tell us." She smiled and let out a light chuckle, "well about for twenty minutes before the Command-Admiral commed us and told us that we weren't."

"What are they out here for?" Leeta asked, "Unless you can't tell me for opsec."

Kira chuckled darkly this time. "I would tell you if I knew." Leeta must have made a face because the next chuckle was lighter before Kira continued. "They've just sat there, requesting supplies and shore leave for their crews but as far as I know, they've told the Vice-Admiral precisely nothing about why there out here."

Leeta leaned back and looked to the roof of the lift-car as she did some mental math. "And with a twenty day transit to Hiigara at flat out Dispatch boat speeds…"

"We are thirty-six days from the earliest possible answer." Operational Security, or OpSec won't allow transfer of fleet orders through the comm relays - no matter how secure the engineers and techs say they are, OMNI wouldn't allow it except in war time emergencies. "I and our Staff Comm Officer sent and then received a message from the Admiralty - they said that there was a cut of orders for 5th Fleet - and then something strange happened, turns out Mandala ordered a dispatch boat sent back to Hiigara too. Current theory is that the Daiamid sent him and his fleet out here, but then didn't or won't send the follow up orders until he arrived."

"Why?" Leeta asked, her tone now void of humour and her brow creased in thought.

Kira shrugged once again. "Beats me, but we always said the admiralty works in mysterious ways." She shook her head. "That's a lot of hulls they've sent out here."

"Maybe a joint op with the Taiidani?" Leeta guessed and Kira shrugged.

"Maybe, like I said, as far as I know, Admiral Senna doesn't know either. For all I know, Admiral Mandala sent that dispatch boat to pick up someone instead of his orders." Kira sighed. "Anyways, when you see the Admiral, if she's a little jumpy, that's why."

Leeta nodded slowly. "I'll keep my head on a swivel then while I'm in there." She saw the sudden funny look Kira threw her way. She made a throwing away gesture, "Oh, something picked up from my Marines."

Kira lowered her gaze and raised her eyebrows. "'Your' Marines." She repeated quietly.

Leeta crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow of her own. "Yeah, what about it?"

Kira put on a face of sweet innocence and smiled sweetly at her friend. "Nothing, nothing at all."

The doors hissed aside as Kira led Leeta through the outer office to the Vice-Admiral officer after processing her through the Marine sentries outside the mini-complex that was the main administration centre of Gehenna Station.

Leeta followed dutifully as the Admiral's Chief of Staff came to a halt in front of a pair of deep, rich wood doors, inlaid with designs evocative of the Battle of Gehenna during the Vaygr War on one side, and on the other, 'Second Gehenna' where the Prince-Elect of the Taiidani Imperial Remnant tried to dislodge the Hiigarans from the region nearly forty years ago, effectively sealing the fate of both the Imperials and the Republic as shortly afterwards both crumbled under internal pressure before reforming as the Confederacy. Obviously Prince-Elect Tobias failed to reach his goals.

"Captain Leeta Naabal, 7th Fleet to see the Admiral, she's expected." Kira said to the sitting secretary who dutifully looked over both of the uniformed officers. The Secretary was a senior grade Lieutenant, probably the Admiral's Flag Lieutenant, or one of them in any case.

"Yes ma'am." The young man replied after he checked the terminal in front of him. "The Admiral is expecting you Captain Leeta." He said after a moment and a few tapped keys, most likely sending a quick message to the Admiral in the office. He stood and walked from behind his desk to the doors.

With grace born of practice, the Flag Lieutenant swung open the double doors to the Vice-Admiral's office.

Leeta had seen some large offices before, Admiralty Complex in Ka-Tiir on Hiigara had several such offices for the staggering number of departments it held and serviced. But this one had to take the prize, to call it palatial would have undersold it. Leeta had grown up in an apartment that she was sure she could have fit twice into the office, and that apartment had two adults and three kids in it when she was growing up.

The far wall was a smart-wall and it was displaying the vast fleet anchored a few thousand kilometres away in perfect resolution and focus, Leeta could make out the individual lights that danced across the surface of the Mothership Ifriit.

The walls were lined with everything an admiral could need. Vast bookcases with what had to be hundreds of old-style hide-bound books and newer dataslates. Portraits of both heroes to the Hiigarans but also ships of legend. Leeta quickly picked out a tall painting of Karan S'Jet when she was integrated with the Kushan mothership, an image that was taught to school children and so well known amongst the Hiigarans and so widespread that Leeta should have expected it, but the quality of the artwork, evident even at this distance made the old picture seem like new.

She caught sight of another famous figure, Kiba So-Bal Somtaaw, Captain of the Kuun-Lan circa 16 AHL/9525 GSY, After Hiigaran Landfall and Galactic Standard Year respectively. The man who stood up to the Bentusi, and won. Captain Kiba's harebrained yet in turn ingenious war against the Beast had become something of a legend among the Hiigarans and even more so among the Naval Service that formed in the wake of the Beast War. Despite his own reservations, he was often credited with being the foremost founder of the Navy Leeta now served.

The next famous face to catch her eye was that of Kevan Soban, Commander of the 'Ferin Sha' 154th Frigate Flotilla and later Captain of the Heavy Cruiser Ka-Ferin during the Vaygr War. Under his command, the light armoured frigates of his flotilla managed to engage and destroy a number of Vaygr Destroyers before withdrawing with no casualties to his ships and then went on to run roughshod over the Vaygr supply lines, even after he was captured and eventually rescued, he played a pivotal part in the defence of Hiigara commanding a Heavy Cruiser. His Tactical skill and sheer courage to engage a force that on paper would obliterate his own and then win, earned him enough respect and prestige to take any command he wanted - instead, after the war he decided to teach and so the foremost Naval Academy in known space was founded, eventually taking his name posthumously many years later.

Aside from famous military officers, a number of ships were also portrayed. The most obligatory being the Kushan Mothership over Hiigara, the Motherships Adiim and Kapisi, another obligatory picture of Sajuuk and the last one Leeta saw was a Battlecruiser.

"The Laggann." She said almost by reaction as she saw the old LiirHra-class Battlecruiser on the wall beside the Admiral's very wide desk. Her own ship, the Ka-Laggann was named for that Battlecruiser, the prefix Ka in Kushan meant 'the second' and so Ka-Laggann meant the second Laggann.

"You recognise your ship's namesake?" The husky contralto broke Leeta's sudden revere. Leeta snapped to see Admiral Senna walking out from one of those bookcases, a dataslate under one arm. Leeta came a parade-ground attention and salute. Kira did much the same though she stood sideways on to both the Admiral and the Captain.

"Captain Leeta ma'am." Kira announced crisply.

Vice-Admiral Senna dropped the dataslate on her desk and walked around it towards Leeta, she returned the salute sharply and waved the younger woman to relax. Senna came to a stop a few feet from the taller officer and offered her hand. "Good Afternoon Captain." She said with an accent thick with the upper crust of Hiigaran society.

"Admiral." Leeta nodded as she took the offered hand. "And yes."

Senna smiled as she released the hand and maneuver deft back around her desk, her hand indicating the facing chairs for the pair to be seated. "Do you know the story of Commodore Dreskin Maanan and the Laggann?"

"I do ma'am." Leeta replied as she sat in one of the obscenely comfortable chairs. The Admiral made a go on gesture and Leeta paused a moment to think.

"Commodore Dreskin, along with the Laggann and the 103rd Battlecruiser Squadron came across a distress call from Taiidani Imperial colony transport convoy, they were under attack by pirates, and he moved to assist." Leeta began as she remembered the tale she'd been told decades ago.

"I think you're underselling it a little." Senna commented, "He was on the other side of the system and he had no idea of the situation, all his ships got was a garbled message with the sub-channel carrying the universal signal of an SOS call." She made a light throwing away gesture. "But please continue."

"Well he hypered his oversized squadron closer to the distress call. He discovered that the origin of the signal was the aforementioned Taiidani Imperialist, who were our enemies at the time, and they were under attack by a pirate force many times Commodore Dreskin's own." Leeta paused as she tried to remember all the details of what happened next. "Despite that, he ordered his vastly outnumbered ships to engage and to shield the convoy as they tried to outrun the pirate's gravity well generator."

"And what happened then?" Senna asked as if she didn't already know the answer.

Leeta felt her head tilt slightly as she spoke. "Well, the Laggann was destroyed and Commodore Dreskin was killed, along with two of his squadron mates, but in return, he crippled nearly thirty enemy vessels and destroyed the same including the pirate interdictor generator. Allowing the convoy and the surviving ships of his squadron to escape."

Senna nodded and smiled at the Captain. "Do you remember how many pirate vessels there were?"

Leeta took a second to conjure up the number from her memory, ' _Kira is right'_ she thought, ' _she really is popping quizzes like back in the academy'_. "One hundred and eight enemy vessels."

Senna nodded again. "Most of those were frigates but there were plenty of Destroyers, Cruisers and even a few carriers. And a point of clarification, the pirates were Turanic Raiders." Senna held a finger up as she made the correction. "So seven Battlecruisers and depending on your standards of combat-capable, about three Taiidani Imperial Destroyers against a hundred and eight hostile ships. Do you remember the final kill tally?"

"Twenty one frigates or smaller, three destroyers, three light cruisers and one carrier destroyed, with another thirty crippled including two other carriers." Leeta answered sharply.

Senna narrowed her eyes, "Good." she said after a moment. "You were listening during my lectures."

Leeta felt a slight twitch at the corner of her lips but otherwise remained neutral under the scrutiny of the Vice-Admiral.

The Battle of K-7856b, as it came to be known, had become one of the more telling fractures for the failing Imperial Remnant in their century long cold war with the larger and more affluent Republic. The Taiidani Empire was dead and wasn't coming back and a few months later the Prince-Elect Tobias got himself killed chasing that dream. The sacrifice of the hated Hiigarans who had killed the Emperor and destroyed the Empire, somehow ignoring the Taiidani's own civil war, flew in the face of the propaganda the Imperials had been churning out reliably for nearly a hundred years.

The Vaygr had torn through the heart of Taiidani space, blasting the Republic but leaving much of the Imperial domains hurt but still mostly active. Afterwards, the Imperials had attempted to conquer the Republic but were stopped before their ships even left their systems when the Vaygr swept back through and all the ships earmarked for the assault were needed for defence. After the Vaygr threat was broken and the Hiigarans chased the shattered remains of Maakan's armada back into the Reaches, slowing only to pick up the few Taiidani Republic task groups who wanted to help them. Not all was well within the Republic, much of their core worlds were ruins and their industries had been totalled. Political pressure after the war forced a harder foreign policy where enemies of the Taiidan were concerned and any talks of reconciliation with their Imperial brothers ended as both sides geared up for the showdown that had been long in the making.

Then the Hiigarans had set up Gehenna Station and put a sizable combat force within striking distance of the Imperial worlds. This combined with renewed political pressure from the Daiamid allowed cooler heads to prevail within the Republic, and the Imperials were unable to attack with what was the most powerful Navy in known space at the time effectively on top of them. But unlike the Republic, the Imperial Senate kept up their war footing and fiery rhetoric, keeping their people in a state of war long past then they could afford too. Then K-7856b happened, and then Second Gehenna happened shortly after. The death of their leader, loss of the majority of their combat power and the general failure of their economy collapsed the Imperial Remnant within a few short years.

The Republic for their part tried to help the leaderless state, but their own economies state wasn't at it's best, the sudden strain of trying to repair the Imperial worlds turned into political pain and soon the Republic Senate fell into ineffectiveness as the different sector-states within began to pull in opposite directions, gridlocking the political process and killing any recovery their economy could have had.

Eventually the will of the people began to reach revolution level and the Senate had to act. Finally a deal was formed, the old Republic and its powers and authority over the various sector-states would end, and a new constitution would be ratified. Shortly after that, the Taiidani Confederacy was formed. In truth it was still the old republic with a new face, even with the new constitution, it maintained many of it old powers and authority, though this time through the bureaucratic machinery rather than 'official' authority. It worked, new confidence in their economy saw a boom period that was for the most part still on going, the old Imperial worlds were integrated quickly and brought up to Confederate standards and soon became productive members of the new union.

The Hiigarans for their part were also under new political leadership as the normally-reclusive Karan S'Jet returned to her nature and left a power vacuum that was filled by Brienne Bai-Kal Manaan-Sa as the leader of the Daiamid and therefore for the most part had little active role within the fall and rise of the Taiidan with the exception of humanitarian aid.

"I've just realised I haven't offered you any refreshment." Senna blurted out, cutting off Leeta's train of thought, or at least her recollection of then-Commodore Senna S'Jet's Naval History and later Tactical courses. Before Leeta could respond Senna turned to Kira. "I assume you want your usual concoction?"

Kira let out a short chuckle before replying. "Yes ma'am, thank you."

"And you Captain? Don't tell me you drink the strange elixirs your old partner-in-crime takes do you?" Senne returned her eyes to Leeta.

Leeta's face flashed with a smile but otherwise managed to keep the rising chuckle from her own lips before responding. "Well, that depends on what those elixirs Captain Kira has come up with over the years - but otherwise, yes Admiral, tea please."

Senna's eyebrow lowered and gave the younger captain a slight smirk before tapping a key on her desk.

The Flag Lieutenant's voice suddenly piped up from desk and Senna glanced down to face the pick-up. "Jerry, could you fetch my guests and I some drinks, my usual, Captain Kira's usual and a pot of tea for Captain Leeta-" the Admiral looked up suddenly, "would you care for anything to eat Captain?" Leeta shook her head and Senna looked back at the pick up. "That will be all. Thank you."

"Of course ma'am, it'll be along shortly."

And with that the Admiral sat back in her seat and laid her arms over the arms of her chair.

"Now, let's get down to business shall we?" The Vice-Admiral stated plainly. "I know I started it but we all have sadly too much to do before we go trudging down memory lane." She gave a weak smile to the two other women. "Now, Captain, first off I'd like to formally welcome you and your squadron to Gehenna Station, I am happy to see you arrive with what seems to be your full compliment of both ships and crews, and it seems you also come to my station in victory judging by your prizes."

Leeta nodded her head at the formal welcome but said nothing as the Admiral continued.

"Speaking of those prizes Captain, I will take them off your hands and let you have your crewmen back - don't worry, you and your squadron had already been registered as the prize-takers so if there is a purchase by the Navy, you and your crew will see the bounty pay in full. I signed that order just before you arrived." Again Leeta nodded her thanks. "However, from what I got from your reports, I'm sure the purchase of those ships will be a quick one as OMNI is eager to get their hands on anything Vaygr." She tilted her head slightly, "well, recent Vaygr at any rate, we still have more than a few hulls from the war we've yet to do anything with, aside from put them in mothballs."

"Indeed ma'am." Kira put in with a slight nod. "So eager in fact our good friend Captain David practically ambushed me on my way to meet with Captain Leeta."

Leeta said nothing but could see a sudden flash of something cross the Admiral face. "Really?" Senna raised an eyebrow, first towards Kira and then to Leeta. Leeta nodded her affirmation of Kira's statement and that same flash happened again. "I must apologise Captain, it was not my intention of having OMNI jump on you at the transfer deck. I will make time to speak to Commodore Kori - she runs the OMNI department here - and Captain David after we're done."

"Well ma'am, no one has ever accused Fleet Intelligence of a lack of keenness." Leeta finally spoke and waved her hand slightly, in small effort to reduce whatever slight had apparently happened. It seems that despite her best efforts to the contrary, she seemed to have unwittingly upset the station's internal politics with her transmission to OMNI station chief about her encrypted files and raw data. She glanced to Kira who in return gave Leeta a slight wink.

"But still Captain, for OMNI agents to attempt to intercept and waylay you prior to our meeting is less than… impressive." The Vice-Admiral remarked coldly. "Fleet Intelligence and OMNI might have legitimate reasons to waylay you Captain but last time I checked, I am the naval commander of this station and regardless of what they like to think, the Navy takes precedent in such cases."

"Of course ma'am." Leeta replied with equal coolness. _Not always Admiral, that's why I brought a spare officer and all the information with me._ she thought to herself but otherwise said nothing, despite a lack of willing to voice her opinion on politics, she knew a politically stupid comment when it jumped into her thoughts.

The Admiral shrugged slightly, allowing the cold tone to lift as a Flag Lieutenant and a Chief Steward entered the office with the requested refreshments. Leeta took her tea with a thin smile and a nod to the steward as the Flag Lieutenant placed a cup for his admiral beside her. The steward handed another cup to the Chief of Staff and as quickly as they arrived, they vanished.

The Admiral said nothing more for a moment as she lifted the cup to her slips and sipped generously. Her sigh afterwards showed her approval for the beverage and she placed it back on its saucer. "My husband tells me a drink to much coffee," the Admiral said conversationally, "or at least he says I put too much sugar and cream in it for it to be healthy." she smiled lightly, "but frankly, as long as my steward keeps making it like that," she indicated the cup, "I'm afraid my husband will just have to keep shaking his head at me everytime I make him a cup."

Before either of the captains could respond Admiral Senna laid her hands on her desk and caught Leeta in a serious look. "However, we were in the middle of something before we got a little distracted."

Leeta nodded after she lowered her own tea cup. "Yes ma'am, regarding the prize vessels."

Senna nodded like the captain and punched something into her console. "Yes yes. Captain Kira will you oversee and expedite the transference of personnel from out of our stocks as to release the 147th's personnel."

"Aye aye ma'am." Kira returned as she tapped a note into a dataslate.

"Next on my list of questions is the status of you and your squadron Captain." The Vice-Admiral continued on as she turned back to Leeta.

"Our status is that we are for the most part, completely operational, with exception to our internal stocks of food and ammunition. We have suffered some light damage in the fight between ourselves and the pirates along with some internal equipment failures - nothing critical or even major but a few nonetheless." Leeta reported dutifully and the Admiral nodded.

"Good, good - I'll have the yard dogs give your ships a quick once over, buff out any scratches and I'm sure your supply officer has already made a request for the relevant supplies." Senna added and it was Leeta's turn to nod.

"Yes Admiral, I signed off on his request prior to coming aboard."

"Good, next on the list is a slightly lighter hearted point - but first of all, what is your personal timetable for your departure?" Senna asked as she pitched back in her chair. "Of course everything we just said will take a few days but how long before you have to ship out for parts unknown?"

Leeta waited a moment as she did some quick mental maths. "I would expect to be ready to be underway in about seven standard days, maybe eight depending of course on both the yard dogs appraisal and the supply situation."

Senna swung her chair slightly side to side. "I wouldn't worry about the supply situation - you'll find we're stuffed to the deck heads with practically everything these days - missiles, Ice-Gold, number three emergency rations, you name it we've probably got it." Leeta smiled at the light tone in the Admiral's voice but Senna went on. "As for the yard dogs - that depends on both what they find and if they can fix it without one of the repair slips, though since you were able to come in under your own power I doubt you'll need one of those slips." she swung a few more times before continuing. "With that question answered, I'll continue with my original question. How long have you been on mission? Six months?" Leeta nodded. "Then perhaps you and your crews would enjoy the chance to stretch their legs? If you wish I can have the proper files for shore leave completed before you return to your ship." the Admiral glanced for an instant to her Chief of Staff and Kira nodded dutifully.

Leeta nodded herself. "I'm sure they would ma'am, and thank you."

Senna smiled to the younger woman. "I'm sure they'll appreciate the few bars we have on station here more than just a chance to stretch their legs now I think about it - assuming of course you'll allow consumption while off-ship?"

It was a fair question to ask, any and all shore leave was purely at the distrection of the ship or squadron commander, as was the discretion to allow non-regulatory drinks to be served to her personnel from the bars, clubs and restaurants that littered the commercial sector of Gehenna Station. The vast majority of shore leave did allow such drinking but it was known for ship's skippers to withhold permission for any reason they wanted, especially those among the far more volatile sectors the Hiigaran Navy oversaw and travelled through, places where the call for battle stations could come at very short notice. That being said, very few ratings and officers, after their first couple of shore leaves, got completely wasted if they were on short-term passes. Long term passes was a different situation altogether.

 _The Marines might be a little different though - they seem to pride themselves on how much they can drink and still 'appear' fit for duty - a game they don't always win._ Leeta thought as her lip twitched at the number of Marines she'd seen in what were favourably referred to as drunk tanks after every shore leave, mainly because she'd ended up in there once with a certain Chief of Staff during their first deployment as ensigns. Leeta had been mortified, Kira less so and their Lieutenant had been almost besides herself with giggles when they returned for duty after a 75 hour pass on Kaitan looking less than muster-ready. Nothing had ever gone in her jacket about it, it never did the first time.

"I think it won't be a problem." Leeta answered the question with only the slightest delay. "At least for the Ka-Laggann, the other squadron's ships however I'll leave to their Captains."

"Of course." Senna nodded. "Now I have a few more questions regarding your report but I do have one request to make of you if you are available." Leeta twitched a little as the Admiral sat forward and looked pleasantly toward the other woman. "Nothing major, it's just I am holding a dinner tonight for a few of my senior staff officers and as the newly-arrived squadron commander I extend an invitation to you, along with your squadron XO and both of your ship XOs."

Leeta took only a moment to respond. "Of course ma'am, I'd be delighted to attend. Mess dress?"

Senna chuckled and waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "Oh no no no, your Class As will be fine - no, nothing too formal."

Leeta put a smile on her face as she nodded once again. While she had no intention to refuse, she had no reason too in fact, it would have been a less than stellar idea to refuse an invitation to the Admiral's table with anything but a dire emergency.

"Now that's all out the way, on to the meat of your report - that bit of gunplay at Hif-An-Asiim." Vice-Admiral Senna leaned back in her chair once again, steepling her fingers across her chest.


End file.
